• ABOUT
  • ADVERTISE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • TERMS OF USE
  • CAREERS
  • CONTACT
Monday, January 25, 2021
Subscribe to Newsletter
No Result
View All Result
Whistleblower Network News
  • Home
  • News
    • Corporate
    • Dodd-Frank
    • False Claims-Qui Tam
    • Foreign Corruption
    • Government
    • Intelligence
    • IRS & Tax
    • Legislation
    • OSHA
    • Sarbanes-Oxley
    • SEC
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Whistleblower of the Week
Whistleblower Network News
  • Home
  • News
    • Corporate
    • Dodd-Frank
    • False Claims-Qui Tam
    • Foreign Corruption
    • Government
    • Intelligence
    • IRS & Tax
    • Legislation
    • OSHA
    • Sarbanes-Oxley
    • SEC
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Whistleblower of the Week
No Result
View All Result
Whistleblower Network News
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Opinion: Bradley Birkenfeld Deserves a Presidential Pardon

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of the Whistleblower Network News.

Ana PopovichbyAna Popovich
December 31, 2020
in Opinion
Reading Time: 6min read
0
Opinion: Bradley Birkenfeld Deserves a Presidential Pardon
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInEmail

As President Trump’s tenure comes to an end, there is a lot of talk about his power to issue presidential pardons. Everyone from political figures and journalists is urging the President to pardon individuals. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) advocated on Twitter for President Trump to drop charges against National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Others have also urged President Trump to pardon Snowden or suggested that President Trump should preemptively pardon his whole family. NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, who divulged information about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, has also become a subject of conversation on presidential pardons. Journalist Tom Whitehurst Jr. wrote in an opinion piece urging that Winner be granted a presidential pardon and lamenting the fact that mainstream media had not given her story the proper coverage.

Presidential pardons became part of a larger conversation last week as Trump doled out 41 pardons over the two-day period. Notable individuals on this list include George Papadopolous, who was a campaign adviser for Trump, Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Trump’s, and Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Papadopolous was charged with false statements while Stone was charged with obstruction of proceeding, five counts of false statements, and witness tampering. Manafort’s charges centered around tax and bank fraud, and Kushner was charged with fraud and 16 counts of false statements, as well as “retaliating against witness, victim; statements or entries generally,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Among the individuals granted pardons in the past week were “Blackwater mercenaries who were convicted for killing civilians in Iraq” and “two Border Patrol agents who attempted to cover up their shooting of a Mexican national fleeing arrest,” according to an NPR article. 

However, absent from the 41 names of people Trump pardoned was UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld. President Trump should grant a presidential pardon to Birkenfeld. Here is why. Birkfeld’s whistleblower disclosures ended the practice of hiding assets in secret Swiss banks to avoid paying taxes. As of 2018, more than 56,000 delinquent taxpayers had come forward, and the IRS had collected $11.1 billion in back taxes, while numerous banks were successfully prosecuted or entered into settlement agreements with the U.S. government. The total amount of revenue generated from the U.S. government’s use of whistleblowers in detecting and prosecuting illegal Swiss banking is estimated at $16.19 billion. The U.S. government would not have uncovered this scandal if not for Birkenfeld coming forward. 

Who Is Bradley Birkenfeld? 

Birkenfeld worked for Swiss-based international bank UBS in charge of American business development. In 2005, Birkenfeld was made aware that UBS was engaging in fraudulent practices relating to “high-income Americans who were engaged in tax fraud,” according to a previous WNN profile about his story. He went to his supervisor about the discrepancies but was told not to “rock the boat.” 

A year later, Congress signed into law the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, which offered monetary awards to whistleblowers who provided information related to tax fraud. Birkenfeld then went to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2007 and presented evidence of the fraud that had occurred at UBS. However, he was prosecuted by the Justice Department and arrested in 2008, even though he had been led to believe that he would not be prosecuted. In 2009, he was “sentenced to thirty months in prison and released in August of 2012” — he spent “20 months in home confinement, one month in community confinement, and three months in post-prison home confinement,” according to the WNN article. When he asked a federal judge to “end or modify his parole terms so he could leave the U.S., the DOJ opposed early termination.”

Birkenfeld’s treatment was absolutely unwarranted, especially given the recoveries that the U.S. government was later able to make in the UBS case. UBS was fined $780 million and “promised to ‘exit entirely’ from the U.S. tax-shelter business and to provide the names of thousands of American tax dodgers,” according to the TIME article. Additionally, his whistleblowing actions have made an impact in the U.S. and around the globe. Professor Dennis J. Ventry analyzed the long-term effects of Birkenfeld’s whistleblower award, which he argued had prompted many individuals to close their illegal offshore accounts in Swiss banks. In 2010, Congress “passed a law that forces banks to disclose accounts held offshore by Americans,” and in 2014, a report by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs criticized the DOJ’s handling of Birkenfeld’s whistleblowing and their treatment of him in the case.

Birkenfeld was rewarded with a $104 million whistleblower award from the IRS in 2012, the largest award to a tax whistleblower to date, but the work he has done to dismantle illegal banking is worth a presidential pardon. Birkenfeld has long been seeking a presidential pardon, first from the Obama administration. More recently, Birkenfeld hoped that President Trump would understand his frustrations with the DOJ and grant him a pardon

Birkenfeld’s brave actions have had positive effects on the international banking world and the United States at large. More than 50,000 U.S. taxpayers turned themselves in, resulting in more than $24 billion collected from banks and individuals. Birkenfeld deserves a presidential pardon.

Protect Yourself: Purchase the New Whistleblower Handbook Protect Yourself: Purchase the New Whistleblower Handbook Protect Yourself: Purchase the New Whistleblower Handbook
Tags: Bradley Birkenfeldpresidential pardonSwiss BankingUBS
Ana Popovich

Ana Popovich

Ana Popovich is a contributing editor with Whistleblower Network News, where she writes about breaking whistleblower news, healthcare fraud whistleblowers, and Covid-19 fraud whistleblowers. Ana has a B.A. in English from Georgetown University. While at Georgetown, she was the marketing chair of an affinity group and wrote content for the McDonough School of Business’ Business for Impact program. In 2018, Popovich was a public interest legal intern at the whistleblower law firm Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto. 

Write a Letter to The Editor.

Most Popular

Grenfell Tower Fire Whistleblowers Caught in Legal Limbo

Yellen Dodges Senate Whistleblower Question

Who Is Rebekah Jones? Profile on Florida COVID-19 Data Scientist

IUCN Motions Essential In Guiding New International Whistleblower Law, Environmental Whistleblower Policy Expert Explains

Allison Lee Appointed Acting Chair of SEC

Whistleblower Complaint Leads to SEC Investigation of Exxon

Whistleblower Poll

Increased Whistleblower Protections
Legislation

Candidate’s Position on Increased Whistleblower Protections Influences 44% of Likely Voters

byAna Popovich
October 6, 2020
0

Protect Yourself: Buy the New Whistleblower Handbook Protect Yourself: Buy the New Whistleblower Handbook Protect Yourself: Buy the New Whistleblower Handbook

STAY INFORMED. Sign up for daily whistleblower email and social notifications from the Whistleblower Network News.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Qui Tam

  • Dodd-Frank
  • IRS & Tax
  • SEC
  • Foreign Corruption
  • False Claims-Qui Tam

Retaliation

  • OSHA
  • Sarbanes-Oxley

Government

  • Government
  • Intelligence
  • Legislation
  • Veterans

Features

  • Whistleblower of the Week
  • Editorial
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Opinion

Resources

  • FAQs
  • National Whistleblower Day
  • National Whistleblower Center
  • Whistleblower Handbook
Whistleblower Network News

Whistleblower Network News is an independent online newspaper providing our readers with up-to-date information on whistleblowing. Our goal is to be the best source of information on important qui tam, anti-corruption, compliance, and whistleblower law developments. 

Submit an Article
  • ABOUT
  • ADVERTISE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • TERMS OF USE
  • CAREERS
  • CONTACT

Copyright © 2020, Whistleblower Network News. All Rights Reserved.

This Newspaper/Web Site is made available by the lawyer or law firm publisher for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice. By using this website, you understand that there is no attorney-client relationship between you and the Newspaper/Web Site publisher. The Newspaper/Web Site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Corporate
    • Dodd-Frank
    • False Claims-Qui Tam
    • Foreign Corruption
    • Government
    • Intelligence
    • IRS & Tax
    • Legislation
    • OSHA
    • Sarbanes-Oxley
    • SEC
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Whistleblower of the Week
  • Login

Copyright © 2020, Whistleblower Network News. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Go to mobile version