Ep.388 ~ Destroying Swiss Banking Secrets, Exposing the Largest Tax Fraud Scheme in the History of the World, Author of Lucifer’s Banker ~ Bradley Birkenfeld

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The Swiss banking system is one of the most powerful and secretive banking systems we have in the world. They have been known for years as the go-to place for wealthy from all countries to store their money and according to Swiss law they absolutely cannot share their clients information with any person, government or entity around the world.

Our guest today, Bradley Birkenfeld is a former top employee of the Union Bank of Switzerland, known as UBS. He ran the United States division of the company in Geneva for years. While working for UBS, he found some documents that were written to protect the bank from illegal activity that the bank was condoning in the United States. These documents were worded in a way that they could throw their employees “under the bus” if they needed to direct the blame elsewhere. When Brad approached the company about it, they ignored him. This was a huge red flag for Brad, and after numerous attempts, he eventually resigned from the company.

This inspired a series of events which led Brad to approach the Department of Justice in the United States government, about the problem and illegal activity the bank had been conducting on US soil. To his surprise, the Department of Justice didn’t welcome him with open arms. In fact, they even turned the case against him. Eventually, Brad had to turn to the US Senate and IRS to expose what turned into the largest case of tax fraud the US government has ever seen, and Brad became largest whistleblower the US Government and the Swiss banking system has ever come across. On today’s show Brad tells his story and outlines what he has written in his book Lucifer’s Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy.

Now, because of Brad’s participation with the bank, he was actually sentenced to 30 months in prison by the United States. What is shocking, is the out of the 19,000 names Brad exposed to the US government not a single sole went to jail, except him. That’s right, the only person that went to jail is the man that exposed billions of dollars of tax fraud against the United States. So far, the US government has collected somewhere near $16 billion in unpaid taxes from Brad’s case. Now there is some good new at the end of this tale! Because the government collected so much from Brad’s case, the IRS rewarded him $104 million...yes, you heard me right. The US government put the man in jail that blew the whistle on the largest tax fraud scheme in the history of the world with the Swiss banks, they then gave him 30 months in jail, and then rewarded him with $104 million….and yes, it is all a very true story!

05:05: Lucifer’s Banker the Book

07:41: The Swiss Banking Background

17:11: Brad Starts Working for the Swiss Banks

19:56: Seeing Red Flags While Working for a Swiss Bank

27:59: The Whistleblowing Law

29:36: Brad Brings 19,000 Names of People Committing Tax Fraud to the Department of Justice

36:31: Exposing a Partner to Saddam Hussein

41:06: Taking the Case to the Senate, the IRS and the SEC

47:06: Brad Goes to Jail and is Rewarded $104 Million

57:11: What Has Gotten Better Due to Brad’s Whistleblowing?

1:01:11: Are the Banks Really Too Big to Fail?

1:05:11: What is the Solution for the Future of Banking?