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Whistleblower Disclosures Result in Historic International Treaty

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Lindsey Williams

The Swiss parliament finally approved the deal made between UBS and the U.S. government that requires UBS to turn over the names of 4,450 U.S. citizens who held accounts at the Swiss bank. The NWC issued the following release:

 
Washington D.C. June 17, 2010. In an unprecedented move the Swiss parliament voted to approve a deal between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and UBS in which UBS has agreed to turn over the names of 4,450 U.S. citizens who held secret and illegal bank accounts at UBS.
 
Lindsey M. Williams, Director of Advocacy and Development of the National Whistleblowers Center, said:
 
"Today's news is bittersweet. While the Swiss government will finally be releasing the names, the outcome is far from a fairytale ending for taxpayers...

 

The agreement with UBS was only for a small portion of the names of tax cheats and the fine was a drop in the bucket compared to the entire $20 billion dollar illegal program.  In order to overcome the damage done by the Department of Justice's prosecution of the whistleblower, Bradley Birkenfeld, the IRS and President Obama should follow the intent of the law and issue Mr. Birkenfeld his reward and immediately commute his prison sentence."

 
Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center and attorney for Bradley Birkenfeld, said:
 
"Bradley Birkenfeld is the most important fraud whistleblower in American history resulting in one of the largest collections ever, but the deal cut with UBS permits the majority of violators to get off scot-free.  The message from the Birkenfeld case should have been: if you illegally shelter the money you will get caught, if you turn in fraud you will be rewarded. Instead, the message being sent by the Justice Department and UBS is clear: if you get caught your wrist will be mildly slapped, if you turn it the fraud you will go to jail."
 
Dean Zerbe, co-counsel for Mr. Birkenfeld said, "Getting the swiss to agree to release the names is taking more dance steps then Fred Astaire. Clearly going forward the answer has to be for the IRS to work with whistleblowers and the information they provide and not wait for the swiss to finish their tap dancing."

The National Whistleblowers Center urges all members of the public to send letters in support of Mr. Birkenfeld's clemency petition, which is pending before the Pardon Attorney.
 
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DOJ Demonstrates "Chutzpah"

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Lindsey Williams

Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an extremely misleading press release on the departments “successes” in tax enforcement. However, as NWC Executive Director, Stephen M. Kohn responded, the “DOJ spends much ink describing the importance of the UBS case without finding the space to add two more words - the name of the whistleblower who made it all possible - Bradley Birkenfeld.”

Instead, the DOJ has the audacity to trumpet their efforts to prosecute the whistleblower, Bradley Birkenfeld. Even more amazing is the fact that while they applaud themselves for throwing the whistleblower in prison, they neglect to tell the American taxpayers that they allowed the architect of the entire UBS illegal offshore tax fraud program, Martin Liechti, to return to the safety of Switzerland without prosecution. 

For more on the NWC’s response to the DOJ’s refusal to recognize that their “treatment of Mr. Birkenfeld is not only a generational setback for tax whistleblowers, it will cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars” please click here.

To TAKE ACTION in support of Mr. Birkenfeld's clemency campaign please click here.

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While The Whistleblower Sits in Prison, More People May Walk Away

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Lindsey Williams

On January 28, 2010, the Washington Post announced that the Swiss government has suspended the disclosure of information about tax cheats to the United States under a February 2009 “deferred prosecution” agreement and may seek to renegotiate the deal.  Under the agreement the Swiss government was supposed to provide the U.S. with 4,450 accounts of the 52,000 secret accounts not declared to the IRS.

Basically, this means that 14,700 people walked away without prosecution under the IRS amnesty program, the head of entire illegal UBS program Martin Liechti was allowed to return to Switzerland without prosecution, the 4,450 tax cheats are likely to escape prosecution, and Bradley Birkenfeld (the person responsible for blowing the whistle and ending the illegal UBS program) is still the only banker sitting in prison.

When will the U.S. government wake up?  Bradley Birkenfeld’s prison sentence is not only unjust in terms of how they treated every other person associated with the UBS scandal, it is permanently harming national and international efforts to fight corruption.  Once again, what whistleblower is going to want to come forward after seeing how Mr. Birkenfeld was treated?

Please TAKE ACTION to stop this injustice now!

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