Bradley C. Birkenfeld

Bradley Charles Birkenfeld (born February 26, 1965) is an American private banker, convicted felon, and whistleblower. During the mid- to late-2000s, he made a series of disclosures about UBS Group AG clients, in violation of Swiss banking secrecy laws, to the U.S. government alleging possible tax evasion. Known as the 2007 "Birkenfeld Disclosure", the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with UBS that resulted in a US$780 million fine and the release of previously privileged information on American tax evaders. In the United States, he was convicted by the DOJ for a single charge of fraud conspiracy and served 40 months in a federal penitentiary from 2010 to 2012 with a fine of $30,000. After he applied for whistleblower status and protection, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) awarded him a settlement of $104 million through their Whistleblower Office. Early life and education Birkenfeld was born on February 26, 1965, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. His father was a neurosurgeon. Birkenfeld attended Thayer Academy, a prep school, and graduated from Norwich University in Vermont in 1988. Birkenfeld is Jewish, his paternal grandfather, Max, emigrated to the United States from Romania in 1922. He obtained a master's degree at the American Graduate School of Business in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland. Banking career Birkenfeld began his career in banking in the currency trading department of State Street Bank & Trust in Boston. Birkenfeld claims that he first blew the whistle on illegal activities while at State Street, approaching the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1994. The information did not lead to any indictments. He says that he turned down an offer to join the FBI after the incident, but that claim has been disputed. In 1996, he was hired as a private banker at Credit Suisse before moving on to Barclay's Bank in 1998. In October 2001, Birkenfeld began working at UBS in Geneva, Switzerland, again as a private banker offering wealth management services. His principal job responsibility was to solicit wealthy Americans to move their assets to the bank, enabling them to hide their funds due to Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws and thus avoid paying U.S. taxes. According to Birkenfeld, UBS sponsored events like art shows and yacht races in the United States to attract wealthy people as potential clients.