Jailed UBS Whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld Makes Tax Day Clemency Request to President Obama

From Democracy Now


A former banker for the Swiss giant UBS who blew the whistle on the biggest tax evasion scheme in US history is asking President Obama today for clemency to coincide with Tax Day, the day US income tax returns are due for most people. In January, Bradley Birkenfeld began serving a forty-month sentence despite playing a key role in uncovering the bank scandal. He first came forward to US authorities in 2007 and began providing inside information on how UBS was helping thousands of Americans evade taxes by hiding billions of dollars in secret Swiss accounts.

Guest:

Stephen Kohn, attorney for jailed UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld and executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center.


snip* STEPHEN KOHN: Well, good morning.


And Mr. Birkenfeld did the right thing. He had information about the largest tax fraud ever turned in. And he walked it over to the Justice Department. He gave them the information. They said, “Thank you very much.” But because he was one of the bankers involved, they indicted him. So they put him in jail for voluntarily, without immunity, turning in the largest tax fraud ever, while thousands of people who profited by millions of dollars have escaped. They only went after—they went after the whistleblower.


JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Stephen Kohn, the government claims that he didn’t provide all of the information on his biggest client, a Russian from California who was subsequently indicted on tax fraud, as well, and that he withheld vital information from the government.


STEPHEN KOHN: Yeah, and now our investigation has shown that was completely false. This billionaire, Mr. Olenicoff, had $200 million hidden offshore, for which he had for years and years. He was eventually indicted and given probation—no jail time—and a minor fine. Then they turned around to Birkenfeld and said, “Ha! He was your client. You should have turned him in. We’ll put you in jail for forty months.” Well, the record shows that Birkenfeld disclosed all of the information about Olenicoff voluntarily to the US Senate investigators before Olenicoff was indicted and before he was sentenced. So the government’s claim that he was withholding that information just was not true.


What’s incredible in this case is that Mr. Birkenfeld worked for a secret bank in Switzerland. It was UBS, the largest bank in the world, but this account that he worked in were the secret accounts where people could put money without disclosing it to the IRS—you know, the classic secret Swiss bank account. It was a fraud, $20 billion fraud. He turned in all the information. The United States government has collected billions of dollars now from the taxpayers who were secretly withholding their income. They collected $780 million from UBS. He was the largest tax whistleblower in US history. Every American has saved money from what he turned in. But the government turned against him.


And by putting him in jail, it’s creating a chilling effect. Other bankers who have this type of information are afraid. Why would anyone blow the whistle on secret bank accounts if they’re the ones who would end up in prison? That’s why our campaign, that we’ve started today, for executive clemency. He is serving in prison more time than any other banker from UBS, more prison time than the ones who didn’t blow the whistle, the ones who managed the program. He is serving more time in jail than any of the 19,000 Americans who profited personally from these accounts. The government’s sending a terrible, terrible message: don’t blow the whistle; if you do, we’ll take the information you gave us, use it against you, and put you in jail. We have to turn that around. And the only way to do it right now is through clemency.

in full: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/15/ubs