In the News

WASHINGTON (Associated Press) — Some 7,500 international tax dodgers have applied for an amnesty program that promises no jail time and reduced penalties for tax cheats who come forward, the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday. The tax dodgers were hiding money in more than 70 countries and on every continent except Antarctica. Accounts ranged from […]

The pending 40 month prison sentence for one of the most important U.S. whistle-blowers ever has been roundly criticized as unfair. Critics say not only does Bradley Birkenfeld deserve reward for making the tax-evasion case against UBS, his former employer, but his harsh treatment is a bad example for those who want to expose fraud. […]

MIAMI, Oct 9 (Reuters) – The key informant in the U.S. tax evasion case against Swiss bank UBS AG faces prison next year, but his harsher-than-expected treatment by the U.S. Justice Department will undermine efforts to expose secretive offshore tax havens, lawyers and whistle-blower advocates say. Bradley Birkenfeld, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen, has been hailed […]

No one, including himself, would argue that Bradley Birkenfeld, 44, is a saint. The former UBS private-banking executive hasn’t hidden the fact that he once bought diamonds with illicit money in Europe and then spirited them to California stuffed in a toothpaste tube, all part of an effort to conceal $200 million in assets on […]