An American Lion

The whistleblower who ruined the financial portfolios of many a tax cheat wants to stave off going to prison so he can help the U.S. government go after more law breakers:

A key informant in the U.S. tax evasion case against Swiss bank UBS AG has asked a federal court in Florida to postpone the scheduled January 8 start of his prison term so that he can cooperate further with the U.S. government to uncover tax cheats.

Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld, who was sentenced in August to three years and four months in prison for helping a billionaire hide assets from U.S. tax authorities, made the postponement request in a filing this weekend by his lawyer to a U.S. district court in Florida.

The filing also requested a hearing to reconsider the 4O-month sentence imposed on Birkenfeld, a U.S. citizen, by federal Judge William Zloch on August 21.

Birkenfeld’s sentencing in August came two days after U.S. and Swiss authorities signed a pact in which Switzerland agreed to reveal the names of about 4,450 wealthy American clients of UBS to U.S. tax investigators.

Supporters of Birkenfeld and whistleblower advocates had criticized the sentence against as too harsh, saying his testimony was pivotal in helping prosecutors to uncover massive tax cheating by U.S. holders of undisclosed UBS accounts.

The critics said the informant’s tougher-than-expected treatment would undermine future U.S. efforts to expose secretive offshore tax havens used by tax evaders.

The government has no wish to really go after the tax cheats. Those same tax cheats have been paying hush money to members of Congress, you see, and they want to keep their filthy lucre hidden. How hard is that to figure out? If we had a real Justice Department, and a real Internal Revenue Service, there would be thousands of wealthy Americans headed to minimum security prison right now. Instead, amnesty and a lopsided grin have been offered, as if to say, sorry about the inconvenience, but could you please pay what you owe?

UBS has paid a massive fine of over three-quarters of a billion dollars and has promised to exit the lucrative tax cheat business, at least when it comes to their American portfolio. That’s a huge hit for any bank to absorb. The results, however, have been mixed. Yes, it’s good to collect taxes from those who should have been paying it. The influx of money into the treasury to pay for all of the things this Congress is spending too much on is fine and dandy. But it’s a phony game. Once you collect your initial fees and fines, the tax cheats simply find a more robust scheme to hide their assets. You’re not going to change anyone’s behavior simply by offering them amnesty. You have to ruin them and send them to prison in order to make a difference, and the government won’t do that. Too many political donors would go belly up. Too many political donors have bought and paid for the privilege of breaking the law.