❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

Former UBS employee tells all

Stephen Beard Jun 20, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Former UBS employee tells all

Stephen Beard Jun 20, 2008
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Renita Jablonski: A former employee of UBS says he’ll tell American tax investigators everything he knows about the Swiss bank. Bradley Birkenfeld has pleaded guilty to a charge of helping a client dodge taxes. From our European Desk, Stephen Beard reports.


Stephen Beard: Birkenfeld admits that he helped wealthy clients hide cash and other valuables from the U.S. taxman. On one occasion, he smuggled diamonds into America in a toothpaste tube. He set up sham companies in places like Panama and Liechtenstein.

Birkenfeld is due to be sentenced in August. His lawyer says he will “reveal all about what was going on at UBS.”

Switzerland’s largest bank is clearly reeling. In a statement, it says it is also cooperating fully with the U.S.

Edward Haddas is with the financial Web site Breaking Views:

Edward Haddas: What they haven’t said is perhaps more interesting. They haven’t accused Birkenfeld of being a rogue trader or denied that some of these practices took place.

Haddas says that UBS may even be considering whether or not to disclose to the U.S. authorities some of the names of its 20,000 American clients.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.