Miami, Florida, USA (GenevaLunch) – Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS wealth manager in the US who set off a court case between the US tax authority, the IRS, and Switzerland’s largest bank, says he is ready to give more evidence. Birkenfeld, who stands to benefit from the IRS Whistleblower programme, is scheduled to go to prison 1 January to start serving a 40-month sentence. He has asked a Florida court to delay the start of his sentence in exchange for cooperating more extensively with the IRS, reports Swiss news agency TXT/TSR.
Background, GenevaLunch
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The French public prosecutor in Nice, southern France, Eric de Montgolfier, has revealed that his office is in possession of confidential details of up to 130,000 clients from HSBC’s private banking branch in Geneva. The data was acquired by the French state when Hervé Falciani, a former IT employee of the bank, left HSBC with the details stored on his laptop. Journal de Dimanche reports that 3,000 of the bank’s clients are French citizens.
The whistleblower, who is reported to have received a new identity and is said to be in hiding in fear of his life, told French public television that he acted out of idealism: “Either you bury your head in the sand or you try to do something about it.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevLunch) – The French justice minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, confirmed Thursday 10 December that Switzerland has asked for administrative assistance in the case of data theft from HSBC Bank in Geneva, and that French authorities would answer it, reports Swiss-German newspaper NZZ. A former employee of the British bank’s private banking arm has provided French authorities with client details, several media sources report. The former IT specialist, variously described as a dual French-Italian or French-Swiss national, has been given a new identity and is living under protection in the south of France.
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.
