“I took on the biggest bank in the world and brought them down, and I took on the biggest government in the world and exposed their corruption, and I’m being rewarded with jail, I would do it again” — Bradley Birkenfeld

Bradley Birkenfeld seems to be referring to his role in exposing tax evasion schemes at Swiss bank UBS that helped American clients hide assets overseas. By providing information to U.S. authorities, he helped bring down UBS and also revealed corruption in how the IRS handled offshore tax evasion cases.

While he went to jail for his own role in the schemes, Birkenfeld appears proud that he took on powerful institutions through his whistleblowing actions. His remarks suggest he believes exposing wrongdoing is more important than any punishment, and he would make the same decision to blow the whistle again despite facing jail time as a result.

The day he was released from Federal Prison on charges of money laundering for a private banking client, he is to receive $104 Million for his 2% reward in UBS whistleblowing case – in which US. Treasury collected over $2 Billion in evaded taxes by US citizens with money in UBS Swiss accounts. For knowledge of the biggest ever case of whistleblowing to the Justice Department, read on.

Here’s the wikipedia entry on Brad Birkenfeld: Brad Birkenfeld (born February 26, 1965) is an American banker and whistleblower whose disclosures to the IRS lead to a massive fraud investigation. In 2007, he gave information to the United States Department of Justice that resulted in $780 million in fines levied against UBS. In 2008 Birkenfeld pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and was sentenced in 2009 to 40 months in prison. Many advocacy groups from around the world criticized Birkenfeld’s prosecution and sentence. Birkenfeld was scheduled to be released from prison on November 29, 2012. However, according to a Reuters report in September 2012, he was released in August 2012. Reuters also reported that Birkenfeld had been awarded $104 million by the IRS as a whistleblower.

In another whistleblowing case, Whistleblower Michael Winston saying he wanted to see Countrywide Financial answer for funding bad loans rather than agreeing to hush money:
 
 

 

“I was offered a lot of money to make it all go away, quietly, but I thought to myself, do I want to be that person? And I realized that I couldn’t take it. I needed to see someone held accountable” — Michael Winston

Whistleblower Herve Falciani on his part in HSBC Tax evasion and money laundering.