Author of Lucifers Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy
Interview: Bradley C. Birkenfeld, Author of ‘Lucifer’s Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy’
By Patricia Gale - Dec 2016
I jumped at the chance to talk to the most famous financial whistleblower in history. Private Swiss Banker Bradley C. Birkenfeld details his incredible story in Lucifer’s Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy. Birkenfeld exposed a massive shell game in which his employer, the megabank UBS, hid billions for its clients, from tycoons to terrorists, from royals to rebels. The book reads like a James Bond story, only it’s all true.
In Lucifer’s Banker, you discover and then expose secrets of Swiss banking that had never been exposed before. How did you discover it, and why did your whistleblowing finally work?
My colleague made me aware of a three-page document, hidden deep within the UBS intranet. We were never informed of this document, and never trained on this document. It was authorized to be written by UBS executives and just slipped into the UBS intranet when no one was looking. My whistle-blowing succeeded because I strategized: I was fully determined to expose UBS to the SEC, the IRS, the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the U.S. Senate, but I had to do it carefully, with unprecedented documentation. That would also ensure that the corrupt DOJ could not bury my story.
You talk about how dirty money has been long played a key role in undermining society. What can we do about that — and is there any way to fight back?...
