Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, DC (GenevaLunch) - US Attorney General Eric Holder is being urged to review the case of Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker whose testimony was instrumental in the US government’s case of tax fraud against the Swiss bank. Birkenfeld was sentenced in August 2009 to 40 months in prison for his role in aiding his clients to avoid paying taxes in the USA.

Two non-profit groups that expose government corruption and misconduct and promote whistleblowing, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project on Government Oversight (Pogo), have written a letter to Holder highlighting the importance of the information Birkenfeld provided to the government prosecutors and saying that sending him to prison sends the wrong message to potential whistleblowers. “Without exaggeration, on the day Mr. Birkenfeld enters a federal penitentiary, every criminal using offshore secret banks to hide their (sic) ill-gotten gain will celebrate”, the letter says in part.

Danielle Brian, POGO executive director, says: “This case sends a clear message to those considering reporting wrongdoing to the Department of Justice: don’t bother.”

Birkenfeld may also benefit from a clause in the US False Claims Act that provides for a reward of up to 30 percent of what the government can recuperate thanks to his information. Potentially this is worth millions to him. According to his lawyer, Dean Zerbe, Birkenfeld is entitled to a part of the $780 million settlement that UBS paid the IRS in February, as well as the money previously hidden offshore by wealthy Americans and being declared to the IRS since UBS was forced to reveal names of clients to the US tax authority.

Links to other sites: NZZ, Wall Street Journal

Posted by :: Sean Ecker on 23 October 2009 at 13:21 | permalink
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News story, GenevaLunch, 23 October 2009.

Filed under: Business

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