What? It's a great way to make a living! Beats investment banking, that's for damn sure.
Even after a dawn police raid on his home and more than a year in a Swiss prison, Lutz Otte says he doesn’t regret stealing client data from Zurich-based bank Julius Baer Group AG. Given the chance, “I think I’d do it again,” he said recently. After all, Mr. Otte cleared about €600,000 ($639,600) by selling the information to German tax authorities a few years ago. And as soon as next year, pilfered piles of data like Mr. Otte’s could start becoming even more valuable. Currently, Swiss authorities refuse to cooperate with tax-enforcement requests from their foreign counterparts if the requests are based on stolen data. Under Swiss law, the foreign agency is essentially viewed as an accomplice to the theft. But the Swiss cabinet has proposed changing the law, to allow Swiss authorities to help even if the data that forms the basis of the request is stolen. The Swiss Parliament is expected to debate the proposal next year.
If Otte has one regret, it's likely just that he's not stealing data right this minute, in anticipation of the new law. Gotta get a leg up on the competition.
