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The National Whistleblowers Center has a long history of supporting whistleblowers in exposing corporate misconduct.
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In October 2001, Bradley Birkenfeld began working at UBS, in Geneva, as a private banker for high-net- worth clients, primarily in the United States. After learning that UBS’s secret dealings with American customers violated an agreement the bank had reached with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), he attempted to solve matters internally with UBS for approximately a year and a half. After these efforts failed, he resigned and provided the IRS with information about 19,000 alleged tax cheats with accounts worth more than $19 billion—the largest whistleblower case of its type ever exposed. However, the Justice Department did not view Birkenfeld as being forthcoming about his largest client, a Russian émigré and California real-estate developer, who was convicted for having hidden some $200 million. Though Birkenfeld voluntarily disclosed information about this client to other government agencies (which issued him a subpoena that protected him from prosecution for violating Swiss bank secrecy laws), the Department of Justice refused to issue Birkenfeld such a protective subpoena, after repeated requests. Arrested on a single charge, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 months in a federal penitentiary, a stiffer sentence even than the 30 months demanded by prosecutors. On January 8, he entered a federal penitentiary, where he wrote this note for World Policy Journal.Tags: Corporate Accountability -
Tags: Corporate Accountability
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Tags: Corporate Accountability
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NWC Objects to Proposed Rules After SEC Admits the Rules Will Result in "Forgone Opportunities for Effective Enforcement"Washington, D.C. November 22, 2010. Today, the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) voiced its strong opposition to Proposed Rules submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission implementing the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
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Washington, D.C. November 10, 2010. Today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed rules to implement the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Section 23 of the Commodity Exchange Act. This follows proposed rules issued by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 3, 2010 implementing the Dodd-Frank whistleblower provisions amending Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act. The National Whistleblowers Center submitted pre-proposal comments to both the CFTC and the SEC and will be submitting formal comments on the proposed rules.
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November 3rd SEC public meeting will address whistleblower provisions
Washington, D.C. November 2, 2010. Yesterday, the National Whistleblowers Center submitted comments to the Securities and Exchange Committee opposing recommendations by the “Corporate Lobby” that threaten the integrity the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions. -
Washington, D.C. May 3, 2010. In the wake of the gulf coast oil spill, Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center, released the following statement:
We call upon BP and all other companies involved in offshore drilling operations to ensure that any employee who steps forward to expose deficiencies in the offshore drilling process is not retaliated against.
The United States Department of Labor and all appropriate offices must fully and immediately investigate any claims made by whistleblowers about BP's practices.
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Washington, D.C. April 7, 2010.
Statement by NWC Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn:The Department of Justice (DOJ) press release crediting their efforts to prosecute Bradley Birkenfeld with increasing tax compliance is the very definition of the word 'chutzpah.' Prosecuting the whistleblower does not encourage more people to come forward and provide information on tax fraud. -
Washington, D.C. March 22, 2010. As part of the anti-fraud provisions of the health care legislation passed yesterday, Congress strengthened the False Claims Act - one of the most effective whistleblower laws in the United States - in order to ensure that whistleblowers can expose fraud under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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