PEACE BE UNTO ALL THE TRUTHERS,SEEK KNOWLEDGE FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE

''MAKE SURE TO ALWAYS CLICK ''OLDER POSTS''AS FRONT PAGE DOES NOT CONTAIN '' FULL CONTENTS OF DAILY POSTS AND UPDATES''


Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Imprisoning a Courageous Whistleblower: The Case of Bradley Birkenfeld http://mostlywater.org/imprisoning_courageous_whistleblower_case_bradley_birkenfeld

National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) covers his case on whistleblowers.org, saying:"Bradley Birkenfeld commenced serving a three-year and four-month sentence in federal prison on January 8, 2010, a direct result of blowing the whistle on one of the largest tax fraud schemes in US history."On April 15, he filed an appeal for clemency.

Interviewed by Steve Kroft on CBS' 60 Minutes in January 2009, Birkenfeld said he's the first insider ever to explain the secretive world of Swiss banking. "It never happened before in history. I'm the first" to do it. Asked what percent of American accounts tried to evade taxes, he said among his own clients, "90%." Senior bank officials went along for the profits. As for Birkenfeld, "I gave (the IRS) the biggest tax fraud case in the world. I exposed 19,000 international criminals (with accounts worth over $19 billion). And I'm going to jail for that?"

One of his clients was Igor Olenicoff, a billionaire on the Forbes 400 list with an estimated $1.7 billion net worth. He cooperated, paid $52 million in back taxes and fines, and got off with no jail.On August 18, 2009, the Justice Department said:"Defendant Birkenfeld('s)....substantial assistance has been timely, significant, useful, truthful, complete and reliable. (Without his help, the UBS) scheme would not have been discovered by the US government."Yet they indicted, convicted, and imprisoned him.

No comments: