One of the strangest cases I have seen, a convicted whisleblower gets $104M for disclosing fraud at Swiss Bank UBS, and UBS turning in US citizens who did not indicate they had foreign accounts on their IRS returns. The US government received almost $1B from UBS in penalties and recovered almost $5B from wealthy taxpayers hiding their money in overseas accounts. Almost 5000 accounts just at this bank, gives you a feel for the extenet of the problem.
Not a bad take for 30 months in jail, but worth it for the government.
Quote:
In 2010, UBS agreed to disclose 4,450 American client names to U.S. authorities. Eleven Swiss banks are known still to be under U.S. scrutiny. The Swiss have been seeking a legal deal to remove the taint from their financial industry.
The crackdown comes at a time of massive budget deficits for the U.S. government and pressure on the IRS to collect more tax.
The information provided by Birkenfeld has brought in $5 billion in taxes from "big banks and wealthy individuals who tried to evade paying their fair share," Zerbe said
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Whistleblower in UBS tax case gets record $104 million | Reuters
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