The IRS has awarded the largest whistleblower award in history — $104 million — to a former UBS banker who gave information that helped expose a $20 billion offshore banking scheme, the whistleblower's lawyers said Tuesday.
Bradley Birkenfeld, the whistleblower, "provided information on taxpayer behavior that the IRS had been unable to detect," the agency said in granting the award.
"The IRS today sent 104 million messages to whistleblowers around the world — that there is now a safe and secure way to report tax fraud and that the IRS is now paying awards," Mr. Birkenfeld's lawyers said in a statement. "The IRS also sent 104 million messages to banks around the world — stop enabling tax cheats or you will get caught."
The National Whistleblower Center said it's the first major award issued under the IRS's tax whistleblower law.
Mr. Birkenfeld was a banker for UBS, a giant Swiss bank, and the information he provided led to fines of nearly $800 million.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/sep/11/irs-pays-104-million-whistleblower/
