UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld who assisted the U.S. in its successful prosecution of Swiss bank UBS AG for aiding U.S. citizens to commit tax evasion is currently in France assisting with a similar investigation. Birkenfeld traveled to Paris last week to comply with French subpoena requiring him to testify against UBS AG.
Mr. Birkenfeld’s importance to the French investigation is garnering a lot of attention from the European media. Some of the articles are linked below:
European Press:
- UBS: Survey of French justice advance English, Le Monde, March 2, 2015. English
- Bradley Birkenfeld: “UBS does not know what I know about it.” Le Temps, March 2, 2015.
- “La parole de Birkenfeld a un poids énorme,” 24 Heures, March 2, 2015.
Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto represented Mr. Birkenfeld, the world’s largest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Tax Fraud Whistleblower when he disclosed illegal offshore Swiss banking that resulted in over $5 billion recovered for U.S. taxpayers. His information forced Switzerland to change its international treaty with the United States resulting and its largest bank was forced to turn over the names of over 4,900 U.S. citizens who held illegal offshore accounts. Mr. Birkenfeld received a $104 million IRS Whistleblower reward – the largest ever received by an individual whistleblower.
Related links:
Information on IRS Whistleblower Program
Whistleblower Protections and Rewards under the Internal Revenue Code