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Do Not Harass Whistleblowers: UBS Pays 75,000 Euro Fine for Harassing Former Employees Who Reported Tax Fraud

Posted 03/14/25

French whistleblowers and tax evasion are taken seriously. On March 9, a French court ordered the Swiss bank, UBS, to pay a 75,000 euro fine for psychologically harassing two people who blew the whistle on an arrangement that enabled wealthy French clients to avoid taxes. The French court’s decision concludes a 15-year-long legal battle. UBS Europe absorbed its French subsidiary and has agreed to pay 50,000 euros...

Contraband, Canada, and Caught for an International Money Laundering Conspiracy: North Carolina Men Will Serve Prison Sentences

Posted 12/11/24

On December 4, 2024, Jeffrey Doctor (age 52, from Charlotte, North Carolina) and Samuel Baker (age 46, from Laurinburg, North Carolina) were sentenced in connection with a scheme to smuggle cut rag tobacco into Canada from the United States. Cut rag tobacco refers to tobacco plants that are chopped into thin strips and sourced to make smoking tobacco. Doctor was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Baker was sentenced to...

IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Fiscal Year 2022 Report: Challenges Persist but Program Recovers $172.7 Million Nonetheless

Posted 07/17/23

The IRS Whistleblower Office has released its Annual Report to Congress for the 2022 fiscal year. The report describes the tax fraud tips sent by whistleblowers to the IRS Whistleblower Program, the proceeds collected thanks to those tips, and the whistleblower awards made by the Program from October 2021 through September 2022. While the Program’s collected proceeds and whistleblower awards increased slightly...

Top Ten Tax Enforcement Actions of 2022

Posted 02/8/23

Tax fraud can take many forms, but each form results in shortchanging government coffers. More seriously, with our tax system depending heavily on taxpayers’ willingness to voluntarily file tax returns and pay taxes, tax fraud undermines confidence in the system. Enforcement of tax laws builds confidence in the system, and deserves to be a law enforcement priority. The top tax recoveries in 2022 start with...

Tagged in: Abusive Tax Shelters, Cryptocurrency, Employment Tax Fraud, Financial and Investment Fraud, Tax Fraud, Top 10,

Top Ten Federal Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2022

Posted 02/2/23

Financial and healthcare fraud often can carry stiff monetary penalties for entities facing government enforcement, as shown on our other Top Ten Lists. Whistleblowers reporting wrongful conduct under one of the federal whistleblower reward laws sometimes find that criminal authorities are as interested in their allegations as civil enforcement agencies and authorities. Fraud can also result in criminal charges and...

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Financial and Investment Fraud, Healthcare Fraud, Ponzi Schemes, Tax Fraud, Top 10, Visa Fraud,

IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Delayed and Disappointing Annual Report on Whistleblower Program in Fiscal Year 2021

Posted 06/13/22

The IRS Whistleblower Office has released its required Annual Report to Congress, covering fiscal year 2021. Disappointingly, the report shows a continuing decline in proceeds collected as a result of submissions to the IRS Whistleblower Program and a continuing decline in awards paid to whistleblowers who reported tax fraud under the program. The report itself was submitted four months later than in previous years...

How Congress and the IRS Can Fulfill the Promise of the Tax Whistleblower Program

Posted 04/21/22

Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Michael Ronickher wrote on the Taxpayers Against Fraud blog about three key changes the IRS could make to help its whistleblower program reach its full potential. The program, which provides rewards of 15-30% of the funds collected by the IRS because of a tip, is undeniably important. As Mike wrote, “Since 2007, the IRS has recovered $6.14 billion based on information from...

Top Ten Tax Recoveries for 2021

Posted 01/19/22

Our top tax recoveries for 2021 total over $7 billion, an impressive number that is due largely to just one of our top ten tax recoveries. Tax evaders were creative last year, utilizing offshore banking, good old tax fraud, and forum shopping for an accounting opinion that fits—all with the intention of cheating the IRS and, in return, the taxpaying public. IRS Criminal Investigation flexed its muscles and went...

Tagged in: Abusive Tax Shelters, FCA State, IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, Tax Credit and Deduction Fraud, Tax Fraud, Top 10,

The New ENABLERS Act May Be a Backdoor Way to Expand the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program

Posted 10/14/21

Hundred dollars bills pinned to clothes line

In The Hill this week, I argue that the newly proposed ENABLERS Act is a lot more powerful than even its authors seem to realize. The proposed law would effectively expand the Bank Secrecy Act to apply the same reporting requirements currently imposed on banks to all sorts of actors who enable (get it?) money laundering: lawyers, investment advisers, accountants, art dealers, public relations firms, and the like. ...

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Legislation and Regulation News, Money Laundering, Tax Fraud, Whistleblower Eligibility,

Pandora Papers Show the Value of Financial Transparency, the Critical Role of Whistleblowers – and the Need for Additional Regulation

Posted 10/8/21

This week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its partners began publicly reporting on the “Pandora Papers,” a trove of millions of leaked documents from firms around the world that help customers set up “offshore” accounts and shell companies designed to conceal financial truths. The leaked documents, and the extensive reporting on the documents, sheds light on the murky world of...

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Do Not Harass Whistleblowers: UBS Pays 75,000 Euro Fine for Harassing Former Employees Who Reported Tax Fraud

Contraband, Canada, and Caught for an International Money Laundering Conspiracy: North Carolina Men Will Serve Prison Sentences

IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Fiscal Year 2022 Report: Challenges Persist but Program Recovers $172.7 Million Nonetheless

Top Ten Tax Enforcement Actions of 2022

Top Ten Federal Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2022

IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Delayed and Disappointing Annual Report on Whistleblower Program in Fiscal Year 2021

How Congress and the IRS Can Fulfill the Promise of the Tax Whistleblower Program

Top Ten Tax Recoveries for 2021

The New ENABLERS Act May Be a Backdoor Way to Expand the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program

Pandora Papers Show the Value of Financial Transparency, the Critical Role of Whistleblowers – and the Need for Additional Regulation

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