Guy Who Helped UBS Clients Avoid Paying Taxes, Ratted Out Colleagues To IRS Would Like Reward For A Job Well Done
Bradley Birkenfeld was sentenced in August to more than three years in prison for helping some people not pay their taxes during his time as a private banker at UBS. That's fine, and he accepts that. What Birkenfeld does not accept, however, is a bull shit claim by the Internal Revenue Service that they don't owe him any money for helping build a case against the Swiss bank, and what appears to be less than a veiled threat that they won't have a check waiting for him when he gets out of the joint. His representation agrees.
Birkenfeld lawyer Dean Zerbe of Zerbe, Fingeret, Frank & Jadav said his client is entitled to a piece of the U.S. government's $780 million settlement with UBS, and that he also has a claim to a portion of the money the IRS recovers from wealthy Americans who hid assets in offshore accounts -- both at UBS and at other banks.
Zerbe also makes a seriously bold claim that while probably difficult to prove could make Birkenfeld's case.
"He didn't just give them a piece of the puzzle. He gave them the entire puzzle," Mr. Zerbe said. "They didn't know how to spell UBS until he showed up."
