Bradley Birkenfeld: the Whistleblower In His Own Words | World Policy Institute

Last week, the U.S. government paid Bradley Birkenfeld $104 million in the largest ever whistleblower payout for revealing the information of 19,000 alleged tax cheaters with accounts at the Swiss bank UBS. The information he provided helped the U.S. government collect more than $5 billion. Still, despite aiding the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, he was convicted of one charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and sentenced to 40-months in jail. In this international tax scandal, Birkenfeld was the only person imprisoned.

In the spring 2010 issue of World Policy Journal, Birkenfeld lays out how UBS promoted and profited from illegal tax evasion. Writing from the federal penitentiary, he argues that if whistleblowers are afraid to bring information to the authorities for fear of prosecution, they will stay silent, and illegal offshore tax havens will operate free of scrutiny.]

via Bradley Birkenfeld: the Whistleblower In His Own Words | World Policy Institute.

I would like to draw everyone’s  attention to this article.  I had read about it when it happened but the article fills in all the details, including the tradeoff he took:       $104 mill for 40 mo in jail.  Who wouldn’t take t hat, along with lifetime witness  pr ot e c  tio n        t h at  works out to almost 87 thousand dollars a day for sitting in a Club Medtype prison, exercising, eating right, and keeping up with the latest news about your 19,000 sworn enemies.