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. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
瑞士銀行前職員布拉德利?比肯菲爾德的律師本周二稱,美國(guó)國(guó)稅局將向他獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)1.04億美元,以表彰其向美國(guó)政府舉報(bào)逃稅。 比肯菲爾德揭發(fā)的內(nèi)幕信息詳細(xì)指出了瑞銀私密的私人財(cái)富管理部門的運(yùn)作方式。出生于美國(guó)的比肯菲爾德在瑞銀工作期間,曾通過(guò)隱匿海外財(cái)富的方式,幫助他的美國(guó)客戶逃稅。 據(jù)報(bào)道,在比肯菲爾德從事私人銀行業(yè)務(wù)的職業(yè)生涯中,曾把鉆石藏在牙膏管里帶出美國(guó)國(guó)境。 本周二公布的這一消息讓比肯菲爾德發(fā)了一筆橫財(cái)。他在之前被控幫助富有的客戶逃稅,在聯(lián)邦監(jiān)獄服刑31個(gè)月,今年八月剛剛出獄。 他目前還在新罕布什爾州處于家庭監(jiān)禁階段。他的緩刑判罰條款使他無(wú)法出席宣布對(duì)他實(shí)施獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)的新聞發(fā)布會(huì)。 比肯菲爾德的律師斯蒂芬-卡恩說(shuō),舉報(bào)的消息直接導(dǎo)致美國(guó)對(duì)瑞士銀行罰款7.8億美元,且超過(guò)3.5萬(wàn)名納稅人參與了特赦計(jì)劃,自愿轉(zhuǎn)回了非法離岸賬戶。卡恩說(shuō),美國(guó)國(guó)稅局因此追回了50億美元的補(bǔ)繳稅款和罰款,否則這筆錢根本無(wú)法收回。 比肯菲爾德的舉報(bào)行為還導(dǎo)致具有傳奇色彩的秘密的瑞士銀行系統(tǒng)的首次曝光。最終,瑞士政府改變了和美國(guó)之間的稅務(wù)協(xié)議。瑞銀向美國(guó)政府提供了超過(guò)4900名持有非法離岸賬戶的美國(guó)公民的身份。對(duì)這些賬戶的調(diào)查仍在進(jìn)行之中。 2011年,比肯菲爾德在獄中接受消費(fèi)者新聞與商業(yè)頻道采訪時(shí),強(qiáng)調(diào)指出了自己作為內(nèi)幕人士的價(jià)值,“我了解其他的銀行從業(yè)者,了解其它銀行。我也了解獵頭。”他還說(shuō),“因此我清楚地知道誰(shuí)在做這種生意。” 根據(jù)美國(guó)國(guó)稅局2006年修訂的舉報(bào)人計(jì)劃,在揭發(fā)欺騙行為后,舉報(bào)人將獲得美國(guó)政府追回款項(xiàng)的一定的百分比作為獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)。 這一決定也會(huì)讓其他潛在的揭發(fā)者知道,向政府告發(fā)就有可能發(fā)財(cái),而且是大賺一筆。 相關(guān)閱讀 瑞銀發(fā)布著裝規(guī)范 女員工要穿肉色內(nèi)衣 西班牙市長(zhǎng)成羅賓漢 帶頭搶超市劫富濟(jì)貧 歐元?jiǎng)?chuàng)始人:歐元區(qū)有可能瓦解 調(diào)查:美國(guó)嬰兒潮一代將不留遺產(chǎn) 英國(guó)ATM機(jī)出錯(cuò)吐雙倍現(xiàn)金 銀行稱不必歸還 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Julie 編輯:陳丹妮) |
Vocabulary: whistleblower: 告發(fā)者,檢舉者 home confinement: 家庭監(jiān)禁,家居隔離 windfall: 意外之財(cái) |