What? Insanity.
Apologize for the link ...
http://www.whistleblowers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=986
WHISTLE-BLOWING: Whistle-blower advocates seek review of former UBS banker’s treatment - Whistle-blower advocates say the federal government’s treatment of an ex-UBS banker will have negative effects.
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, November 28, 2009
Author: MARTHA BRANNIGAN, mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com
Whistle-blower advocates are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review the treatment of tipster Bradley C. Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker who was sentenced to 40 months in prison despite his pivotal help in the groundbreaking case against the Swiss banking giant.
Birkenfeld, 44, laid the foundation for the federal government’s most devastating assault ever on Swiss banking secrecy and offshore tax cheats, and his revelations could result in numerous prosecutions of tax cheats. But in August, a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale surprised even prosecutors by imposing the lengthy sentence, followed by three years’ probation.
The ex-banker, who once smuggled diamonds inside a toothpaste tube past U.S. Customs, filed a whistle-blower claim with the Internal Revenue Service in 2007, seeking millions of dollars in reward for his star role in the case, but his criminal conviction casts doubt on whether he will collect.
$780 MILLION FINE
Zurich -based UBS, in a bid to avoid criminal charges, agreed in February 2009 to pay a $780 million fine and to close its cross-border operation, which helped wealthy Americans to hide money from the IRS in secret offshore accounts.
A Nov. 25 letter to Holder, signed by the National Whistleblowers Center and other advocacy groups, said the harsh punishment of the key whistle-blower in the UBS investigation will have a chilling effect on others who may be considering stepping forward to reveal serious wrongdoing.
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PLOTTING A PARDON - Rich Cashed In a World of Chits to Win Pardon
New York Times, The (NY) - Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Author: ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Abstract: Special report, Plotting a Pardon, relates how billionaire businessman Marc Rich, one of nation’s most-wanted fugitives, won last-minute pardon from Pres Clinton by orchestrating use of every imaginable chit and every bit of influence; campaign began last year when Avner Azulay, retired Mossad agent who works for Rich, persuaded Rich’s estranged former wife Denise, who had spurned earlier pleas, to help for sake of her children; she adopted mission as her own, using influence as lavish Democratic fund-raiser and Clinton friend, and appealing to president at White House dinner in December; global campaign was organized around personal connections; Israeli officials joined in gratitude for Rich’s philanthropy and helped with intelligence operations; then-Prime Min Ehud Barak hardly knew Rich but pressed Clinton because of longtime ties to Azulay; Rich’s lawyer Jack Quinn is former Clinton counsel and close to Eric Holder , deputy attorney general who delivered lukewarm but crucial endorsement of pardon; Michael Steinhardt, retired hedge fund manager and philanthropist, says he vowed to help after witnessing Rich’s grief at death of his daughter from leukemia in 1996; Rich himself, son of Belgian refugees, began career in commodities trading at in mailroom, at age 19; his international operations, illegal trading and 1983 racketeering indictment, along with partner Pincus Green, reviewed; Quinn’s savvy lobbying and end run around Justice Department also detailed (L)
EXCERPT
The lawyer Mr. Rich selected, the former White House counsel Jack Quinn, turned out to have the connections that counted most. He had a close relationship with Eric Holder , the deputy attorney general at the time. It was Mr. Holder who delivered a lukewarm but crucial endorsement of the pardon in the waning hours of the Clinton presidency.
Mr. Quinn also had the confidence of the president, having helped manage the White House’s response to the travelgate investigation and other dicey problems. When a White House aide found a reference to Mr. Rich trading arms in the government’s computerized intelligence files around midnight on Jan. 19, she called Mr. Quinn for an assessment. Mr. Quinn said the accusation was off base, and that was good enough for Mr. Clinton, who signed the papers granting the pardon early the next morning.
Beyond insanity. That entire administration is like One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest.