Mr. Bradley Birkenfeld is an international banker who blew the whistle on secret offshore accounts at UBS bank in Switzerland. Mr. Birkenfeld, while working for UBS, came to realize that "bank managers were encouraging breaches of UBS's own written policies in helping American clients evade federal taxes." When Mr. Birkenfeld realized in 2005 that UBS was engaging in illegal and unethical behavior in their handling of banking clients, he immediately complained internally to UBS's Legal and Compliance departments and, when his complaints were ignored, he resigned. Sensing a cover up by UBS, Mr. Birkenfeld then took courageous measures to travel to the United States at his own expense to blow the whistle on UBS's illegal activities to the US government, including the Department of Justice, Internal Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Senate.

Mr. Birkenfeld's voluntary disclosures directly led to the recovery of billions of taxpayers dollars and the end of the illegal UBS tax fraud scheme. Despite his invaluable contribution, Mr. Birkenfeld began serving a 40-month prison sentence on January 8, 2010. In return for his extraordinary cooperation with the U.S. government, Mr. Birkenfeld remains the only person involved the in the largest illegal tax scheme in history to receive a lengthy prison sentence. He also spent over 19 months in a home confinement program, which included electronic monitoring, a curfew, and travel restrictions. So far, everyone prosecuted in relation to the UBS tax scheme has received minor sentences, including probation, fines, community service, no more than 3 months in prison and/or house arrest. The director of the entire UBS program, Martin Liechti, was released by U.S. authorities and allowed to return to Switzerland without any prosecution