I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
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Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#2This almost makes some kind of sense. The "whistleblower award" he got was the percentage of recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance schemes; it's a portion of the money he actually helped recover for the government. There is a rational case to make for someone being both fully culpable for wrongdoing while still remaining entitled to bounties they've satisfied.
For another complicated IRS recovery bounty case, see the story about Vanguard's "internal whistleblower" who is making the case to the IRS that their cost-saving structure is an unfair advantage, and that they owe taxes on those savings to the government. If that "whistleblower" prevails, he'll have harmed the retirement savings of tens of millions of Americans, all of whom benefit from Vanguard's novel structure. But there you go!
As for this guy's superiors not being prosecuted, yeah, that sucks. The prosecutors can only make the cases they can make; this guy confessed.
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#3This almost makes some kind of sense. The "whistleblower award" he got was the percentage of recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance schemes; it's a portion of the money he actually helped recover for the government. There is a rational case to make for someone being both fully culpable for wrongdoing while still remaining entitled to bounties they've satisfied. For another complicated IRS…
> recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance scheme
Tax evasion. Tax avoidance is legal; evasion is illegal. The one is avoiding taxes by applying the law; the other is breaking the law in some fashion or another.
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#4A little more detail from a neutral source on why Birkenfeld was jailed: http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1928897...
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#5This almost makes some kind of sense. The "whistleblower award" he got was the percentage of recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance schemes; it's a portion of the money he actually helped recover for the government. There is a rational case to make for someone being both fully culpable for wrongdoing while still remaining entitled to bounties they've satisfied. For another complicated IRS…
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Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#6It sounds like he didn't actually go to jail for the crime he blew the whistle on, per se, but for continuing to cover up part of the crime afterward by refusing to produce information they knew he had. Maybe all the folks who got non-prosecution agreements actually cooperated with investigators.
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#7This almost makes some kind of sense. The "whistleblower award" he got was the percentage of recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance schemes; it's a portion of the money he actually helped recover for the government. There is a rational case to make for someone being both fully culpable for wrongdoing while still remaining entitled to bounties they've satisfied. For another complicated IRS…
> recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance scheme Tax evasion . Tax avoidance is legal; evasion is illegal. The one is avoiding taxes by applying the law; the other is breaking the law in some fashion or another.
The line between evasion and avoidance is really a matter of opinion (that we colloquially call 'case law'). It's hard to know what the delta actually is... I would argue that intent isn't really that different between the two.
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
> recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance scheme Tax evasion . Tax avoidance is legal; evasion is illegal. The one is avoiding taxes by applying the law; the other is breaking the law in some fashion or another.
The line between evasion and avoidance is really a matter of opinion (that we colloquially call 'case law'). It's hard to know what the delta actually is... I would argue that intent isn't really that different between the two.
It is completely different. A freegan is a tax avoider.
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> recovery the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance scheme Tax evasion . Tax avoidance is legal; evasion is illegal. The one is avoiding taxes by applying the law; the other is breaking the law in some fashion or another.
The line between evasion and avoidance is really a matter of opinion (that we colloquially call 'case law'). It's hard to know what the delta actually is... I would argue that intent isn't really that different between the two.
The difference is very important because tax avoidance is completely legal and encouraged. Tax evasion is illegal.
Your statement below is false as written:
>the IRS pays as a bounty for intelligence on tax avoidance scheme
From the IRS' website: [1]
"The IRS Whistleblower Office pays money to people who blow the whistle on persons who fail to pay the tax that they owe"
You can't fail to pay a tax that you legally avoid.
[1] https://www.irs.gov/uac/whistleblower-informant-award
Here is some more information on the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion: http://www.investopedia.com/video/play/tax-avoidance-vs-tax-...
Re: I Won $104M for Blowing the Whistle But Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
#10It sounds like he didn't actually go to jail for the crime he blew the whistle on, per se, but for continuing to cover up part of the crime afterward by refusing to produce information they knew he had. Maybe all the folks who got non-prosecution agreements actually cooperated with investigators.
His explanation was good, that he needed to keep appearances and not leak to others he was co-operating with government. Any way, he had the last laugh, the DoJ is a bunch of political hacks who hate Whistle-blowers any way.