Stop enabling tax cheats or you will get caught
Lawyers for Bradley Birkenfeld, alias “Tarantula”, the former UBS banker who informed authorities about tax evasion at the bank and was paid $104m. Birkenfeld was awarded what is believed to be the largest-ever payout to a whistleblower under a US law to reward tax informers.
His information led to a $780m settlement between UBS and US authorities in 2009 – and a 30 month prison sentence for his own part in the tax evasion.
Helen Roxburgh is online editor of economia.