IRS Tax Fraud Whistleblower Awarded $104 Million
Philadelphia, PA September 12, 2012 – Whistleblower Attorneys for Bradley Birkenfeld, a jailed former Swiss banker, announced that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will award him a $104 Million as a tax whistleblower reward for detailed information he turned over to the U.S. government concerning the detailed inner workings of Swiss bank UBS’s secretive private wealth management division and illegal offshore banking scheme.
It is believed that this reward – the largest ever single reward paid to an IRS tax whistleblower – is the 4th reward paid to date since the IRS Whistleblower Program went into effect in 2006.The first IRS whistleblower award of $4.5 million was issued to an anonymous accountant in April 2011 after he exposed that his employer, a Fortune 500 financial services firm, was skimping on taxes.Since that time, the IRS has been under intense scrutiny due to the apparent lack of progress with respect to its handling of IRS whistleblower claims including scathing reports by the Government Accountability Office and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Senator Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who spearheaded the legislation that led to the creation of the IRS Whistleblower Office and who also has been vocal about his unhappiness with regard to the IRS’s slow approach to whistleblower tips, declared today, “This case provides evidence about how the whistle-blower program can be effective because the IRS is saying its work against this kind of tax fraud would not have been possible without the whistle-blower.”
The Birkenfeld case is an indication by the IRS that it takes whistleblower claims seriously while encouraging others to report fraudulent activity.Attorney Eric L. Young, of the nationally renowned Whistleblower Attorney Firm, Young Law Group, who represented the accountant who received the first ever IRS tax whistleblower award, congratulates Mr. Birkenfeld and his attorneys, “I know first-hand the challenges faced by people like Mr. Birkenfeld when stepping forward to report serious fraudulent activity.In this extreme case, Mr. Birkenfeld arguably paid the ultimate price – time in jail – after deciding to come forward.Blowing the whistle on corporate fraud and misconduct is not for the faint of heart and that is why the government pays rewards.It also underscores the importance of hiring experienced IRS whistleblower attorneys.My hat goes off to Mr. Birkenfeld and his attorneys who did a tremendous job in not only ensuring that UBS AG was held accountable for helping tax cheats, but in bringing attention to scope of efforts by wealthy U.S. citizens to evade taxes by way of off-shore bank accounts.”
Young Law Group (“YLG”) is a nationally renowned law firm specializing in the representation of whistleblowers and individuals in fraud and class action litigation. Our attorneys have litigated cases resulting in recoveries exceeding $2 Billion against corporate giants including Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer, Ikon, Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson, Fresenius, Merck, Aramark, and others.
Young Law Group is a nationwide leader in whistleblower representation and has successfully represented numerous clients in some of the nation’s largest qui tam cases for over a decade. For a free confidential consultation, please call Eric L. Young, Esquire at (800) 590-4116 or complete our online form.
Update: Young Law Group is now operating as Young Law Group. Links in the press release have been updated with our new website address.