Attorneys for jailed former Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfeld announced Tuesday that the IRS will pay him $104 million as a whistleblower reward for information he turned over to the US government.
Attorneys for jailed former Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfeld announced Tuesday that the IRS will pay him $104 million as a whistleblower reward for information he turned over to the US government.
The information Birkenfeld revealed detailed the inner workings of the secretive private wealth management division of the Swiss bank UBS (UBS), where the American-born Birkenfeld helped his US clients evade taxes by hiding wealth overseas.
At one point during his private banking career, Birkenfeld reportedly brought diamonds across the US border secured inside a toothpaste tube.
Tuesday's announcement represents an astonishing turn of fortune for Birkenfeld, who was released from federal prison in August after serving 31 months on charges relating to his efforts to help a wealthy client avoid taxes.
He is currently under home confinement in New Hampshire. The terms of his probation prevented Burkenfeld from attending the press conference announcing his windfall.
Birkenfeld attorney Stephen Kohn said the information the former Swiss banker turned over to the IRS led directly to the $780 million fine paid to the US by his former employer, UBS, as well as leading over 35,000 taxpayers to participate in amnesty programs to voluntarily repatriate their illegal offshore accounts. Kohn said that resulted in the collection of over $5 billion dollars in back taxes, fines and penalties that otherwise would have remained outside the reach of the government.
Birkenfeld's disclosures also led to the first cracks in the legendarily secretive Swiss banking system, and ultimately the Swiss government changed its tax treaty with the United States. UBS turned over the names of more than 4,900 US taxpayers who held illegal offshore accounts. Investigations into those accounts are ongoing.
In an interview with CNBC conducted in federal prison in 2011, Birkenfeld emphasized the value he had as an insider: "I knew the other bankers. I knew the other banks. And I knew the headhunters," Birkenfeld said at the time. "So, I knew exactly who was doing this business."
Under the IRS whistleblower program which was revamped in 2006, informants are entitled to a percentage of the dollars recovered by the US government when fraud is exposed.
This decision is expected to send a message to other potential informants that there is money, potentially big money, in turning to the government.瑞士银行前职员布拉德利•比肯菲尔德的律师本周二称，美国国税局将向他奖励1.04亿美元，以表彰其向美国政府举报逃税。
比肯菲尔德揭发的内幕信息详细指出了瑞银私密的私人财富管理部门的运作方式。出生于美国的比肯菲尔德在瑞银工作期间，曾通过隐匿海外财富的方式，帮助他的美国客户逃税。
据报道，在比肯菲尔德从事私人银行业务的职业生涯中，曾把钻石藏在牙膏管里带出美国国境。
本周二公布的这一消息让比肯菲尔德发了一笔横财。他在之前被控帮助富有的客户逃税，在联邦监狱服刑31个月，今年八月刚刚出狱。
他目前还在新罕布什尔州处于家庭监禁阶段。他的缓刑判罚条款使他无法出席宣布对他实施奖励的新闻发布会。
比肯菲尔德的律师斯蒂芬-卡恩说，举报的消息直接导致美国对瑞士银行罚款7.8亿美元，且超过3.5万名纳税人参与了特赦计划，自愿转回了非法离岸账户。卡恩说，美国国税局因此追回了50亿美元的补缴税款和罚款，否则这笔钱根本无法收回。
比肯菲尔德的举报行为还导致具有传奇色彩的秘密的瑞士银行系统的首次曝光。最终，瑞士政府改变了和美国之间的税务协议。瑞银向美国政府提供了超过4900名持有非法离岸账户的美国公民的身份。对这些账户的调查仍在进行之中。
2011年，比肯菲尔德在狱中接受消费者新闻与商业频道采访时，强调指出了自己作为内幕人士的价值，“我了解其他的银行从业者，了解其它银行。我也了解猎头。”他还说，“因此我清楚地知道谁在做这种生意。”
根据美国国税局2006年修订的举报人计划，在揭发欺骗行为后，举报人将获得美国政府追回款项的一定的百分比作为奖励。
这一决定也会让其他潜在的揭发者知道，向政府告发就有可能发财，而且是大赚一笔。
Vocabulary:
whistleblower: 告发者，检举者
home confinement: 家庭监禁，家居隔离
windfall: 意外之财
编辑推荐：