Democracy Now!
August 27, 2009
As Obama Golfs with UBS CEO Days After Firm Avoids Criminal Prosecution, UBS Whistleblower Given 40-Month Jail Term
On the first day of his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, President Obama spent five hours golfing with UBS executive Robert Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama’s presidential campaign. As the pair teed off, another UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, had just been handed a forty-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to assisting a client evade taxes. It was the first sentence in a wider scandal that has seen UBS admit to helping wealthy Americans dodge their tax obligations. On his own initiative, Birkenfeld blew the whistle on UBS. His disclosure and cooperation with US authorities provided inside information into the bank’s conduct and sparked the massive federal investigation.
On the first day of his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, President Obama spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, the president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas. Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama’s presidential campaign, raised $250,000 dollars for him back in 2006, and in February was appointed by Obama to the White House’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
While Wolf shared a tee time with the president of the United States, another UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, had just been handed a 40-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to assisting a client at UBS evade taxes. It was the first sentencing of the massive UBS tax case. Three days earlier, UBS had struck a deal with U.S. tax authorities to disclose the identities of about 4,500 of its American clients who are suspected of hiding assets and evading taxes through secret Swiss accounts. The amounts are said to add up to billions.
UBS struck a separate settlement in February to avoid criminal prosecution, admitting to helping wealthy Americans dodge their tax obligations and agreeing to pay $780 million dollars in penalties.
Where does Bradley Birkenfeld fit in? On his own initiative, he blew the whistle on UBS. His disclosure and cooperation with U.S. authorities provided inside information into the bank’s conduct and sparked the massive federal investigation. The 40-month sentence Birkenfeld received after coming forward and pleading guilty to facilitating offshore tax evasion himself was harsher than his attorney and even prosecutors had expected.
For more we are joined in our firehouse studio by by Sharona Coutts, a reporter with ProPublica who has been covering the UBS story. Her latest article is “UBS and the Taxpayers’ Hidden Billions.” And in Washington DC we are joined by Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center.
Sharona Coutts, reporter with ProPublica. Her latest article is UBS and the Taxpayers’ Hidden Billions.
Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center.
video and transcript: As Obama Golfs with UBS CEO Days After Firm Avoids Criminal Prosecution, UBS Whistleblower Given 40-Month Jail Term
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This surely shows Obama”s disdain for the citizens of the United States of America. It shows that he is bought and paid for.
That a bank official came forward on his own to provide with a wealth of information that can be used to collect billions in taxes is sentenced to 40 months is a travesty. Possibly he could have been fined, given a suspended sentence or probation for surely he is no angel. That he was sentenced and the tax evaders are not shows just how much the elites have taken over and control a country that at one time was actually a representative republic.