UBS Whisleblower

[sephir]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BT4DJ20091230


I'm not sure how many of you saw this story recently, but cliff notes are:

-UBS employee working in Switzerland goes to US justice dept. about secret bank accounts and the fact the bank was willingly participating and encouraging this behavior
-Thousands of tax cheats names uncovering Billions of tax dollars evaded
-Because the whistle-blower did not discuss with the justice department his participation in this he has been sentenced to 40 months in prison. He is the only person involved who is going to jail

On a side note there is a chance he could receive up to 30% of the money recovered by the US government. So the question is, do you sentence a person like this for jail time because he did wrong, or do you reward him for blowing the whistle and possibly encourage others to do the same in the future?

[Skjie]

Both, clearly.

[Tythera]

I can't be the only one who read it as USB whistleblower

carry on

[Qalbert]

^not the only one

[Baelorn]

I can't be the only one who read it as USB whistleblower

carry on

I did....I was so confused

[Woozie]

I can't be the only one who read it as USB whistleblower

carry on

Yeah, I was confused too @_@

[Meian]

I can't be the only one who read it as USB whistleblower

carry on

That and also thought of UPS

[Olo401]

They just aired this story on 60 Minutes too.. really a fantastic piece of journalism at all sources tho.

The reason they cited that he received jail time was that he didn't come forward with ALL of the information he had, which means anything he didn't blow the whistle on gets around any immunity he would have. That makes total sense, as does the fact that he gets a reward for turning in tax cheats on such an epic scale.

The real outrage is that the 19,000+ people who participated in this tax sheltering scheme won't see any jail time as long as they pay back what is owed plus interest. Jail time isn't going to make a difference either, since it will not make a difference with people like this and that will cost the government money. Something different needs to be done.. I have a couple ideas but mentioning them will probably get panned for how extreme they are.

[Celeste]

Ignite the final conflagration! We are so close! EMBRACE IT.

[Tekki]

They just aired this story on 60 Minutes too.. really a fantastic piece of journalism at all sources tho.

The reason they cited that he received jail time was that he didn't come forward with ALL of the information he had, which means anything he didn't blow the whistle on gets around any immunity he would have. That makes total sense, as does the fact that he gets a reward for turning in tax cheats on such an epic scale.

The real outrage is that the 19,000+ people who participated in this tax sheltering scheme won't see any jail time as long as they pay back what is owed plus interest. Jail time isn't going to make a difference either, since it will not make a difference with people like this and that will cost the government money. Something different needs to be done.. I have a couple ideas but mentioning them will probably get panned for how extreme they are.

Citing the same episode you saw, the 2 options were to pursue them judicially or make a deal to get estimated billions back from taxes. Pretty obvious choice for all parties, tax payers, government and of course, those accused.

This will drag out for awhile but im really interested in what happens at the end of the day with this case.

[Bipolargod]

You have to love this stuff lol, not only is he a snitch and a thief, he's expecting to be rewarded for his actions....I LOVE IT

[Khajit]

Now I'm all for reporting crimes to the authorities but that guy sounds like a douche-bag to me.
I mean fuck, he got paid for and participated in that scheme for years without bothering to report it at the start. He probably only reported it because his secretarybanged his wife or something.
I still don't get why the US had any right to demand that a different country change an entire industry for their convenience anyway. The US should have jurisdiction over US law in the US. If I committed a crime against Chinese law in New york then China doesn't have the right to sentence me to anything and vice versa.
One thing is for sure, I should get into banking then make a deal to sell out people in exchange for getting myself set for life if I ever get tired of actually working for a living.
Or better, I hid the existence of money from an entity that has no jurisdiction over me so therefore I can be prosecuted!
Besides, Does anyone think the cash is even going to be spent on anything useful?

[Pirian]

You have to love this stuff lol, not only is he a snitch and a thief, he's expecting to be rewarded for his actions....I LOVE IT

No honor among thieves.

[Khajit]

Actually now that i think of it if he's going to jail for the crimes he didn't report then it's even worse in theory. He missed a few out of literally tens of thousands with human error being a distinct possibility since being able to track down 1000 of em is impressive let alone the numbers he brought in and he's shipped off to jail for it.

[Khamsin]

Actually now that i think of it if he's going to jail for the crimes he didn't report then it's even worse in theory. He missed a few out of literally tens of thousands with human error being a distinct possibility since being able to track down 1000 of em is impressive let alone the numbers he brought in and he's shipped off to jail for it.

And he just so happened to forget that he was involved in some of it, or left that out due to human error?

[Khajit]

Nah not saying he was innocent of it. I'm just pointing out that given the lack of info and the earlier statement that his jail time was for the ones he didn't report(due to immunity for the ones he reported) while snitching such a thing seems possible.
Basically, he gets immunity for reporting the crimes, he's reported thousands so far, I don't see any real motivation mentioned to NOT take advantage of such a lucrative thing esp when 30% of everything becomes his yet he skipped over people whom only had to pay what they owed the IRS and could get warned ahead of time so that they could save up if they were that personally important to him(or he could have offered to pay what they got charged after the fact discreetly). It just doesn't add up to me ya know?

[Khamsin]

Nah not saying he was innocent of it. I'm just pointing out that given the lack of info and the earlier statement that his jail time was for the ones he didn't report(due to immunity for the ones he reported) while snitching such a thing seems possible.
Basically, he gets immunity for reporting the crimes, he's reported thousands so far, I don't see any real motivation mentioned to NOT take advantage of such a lucrative thing esp when 30% of everything becomes his yet he skipped over people whom only had to pay what they owed the IRS and could get warned ahead of time so that they could save up if they were that personally important to him(or he could have offered to pay what they got charged after the fact discreetly). It just doesn't add up to me ya know?

I think it was more because he accidentally forgot the ones that would implicate him. Like.. reporting some insider trading scandal while forgetting to mention that you also did some insider trading, as if you just stumbled upon the discovery by accident as opposed to knowing because you were involved. Then when they discover that you also did it, they ask why you didn't mention it before. Since you had said "He missed a few out of literally tens of thousands with human error being a distinct possibility" as if he simply forgot his own involvement.

[Olo401]

Ignite the final conflagration! We are so close! EMBRACE IT.

Okay then! Let's do this..

Extreme cases of tax evasion such as this, as well as extensive fraud (i.e. Enron, Madoff) and other severe white collar crimes that impact the economy in a significant way should have an added penalty of a lifetime 15% per annum fine on all assets after release from incarceration.

[Blabj]

Without a question in my mind he should be aided by the US govt. in whatever way possible. If someone witnesses a mob murder and tells the authorities, they get whole new identities provided to them by the government. But if someone tells them about a crime involving potentially the entire country (even world?) they should be sentenced to jail and publicly humiliated?

This whole thing reminds me of The Informant, originally a book and film which has just come out... There is a brilliant line in it in which a member of the defendant's legal team says "[he] has shown that a group of men standing around in suits in the middle of the day isn't a business meeting, it's a crime scene!" I paraphrased a bit but you get the point...

[Tekki]

I still don't get why the US had any right to demand that a different country change an entire industry for their convenience anyway. The US should have jurisdiction over US law in the US. If I committed a crime against Chinese law in New york then China doesn't have the right to sentence me to anything and vice versa.

The US did not touch the industry itself. The Swedish banks were breaking the Banking laws and regulations by coming to the US and doing their "banking" under the table here.

You analogy with Chinese/US law is different. You should think of it as going to China, breaking Chinese laws or financial regularions, and coming back to the US. Now if you had billions of dollars involved in the Chinese economy, you would not want to completely back out of the scene... you would rather pay their demanded fines and move on. (The alternative would be to face their crimes and end up losing your involvement in their money all together)

From what I understand the Swedish Bank did the same thing. To protect their current and future clients, they simply paid the penalties, settling out of court, and everyone moves. Meanwhile the bank will continue to lose clients from this point on.