Once-jailed banker gets $104 million whistleblower payout

[The Minsky Moment]

They caught this guy without super secret insider knowledge didn't they? If his choice was 2 years in jail and tell, or keep quiet and spend 20, he'd tell.

No they didn't
Birkenfeld resigned from UBS about a year before the DOJ probe began.  DOJ did not even know his identity when BB first approached them through his attorneys.

The odd outcome here is due to the fact that the IRS rules for compensating whistleblowers are different from the Justice Dept guidelines for deciding when not to prosecute whistleblowers.  Birkenfeld basically rolled the dice that DOJ wouldn't prosecute him criminally if he gave the information he had to give to collect the IRS award, and it didn't work out.  But he was stil eligible for the IRS award.

[alfred russel]

I've always been suspicious of the effects of the huge whistleblower rewards...I think the most important control you can have to keep a financial crime from happening in your company is to enable people to raise issues internally as soon as they sense something might be wrong. The whistleblower reward system can give gigantic rewards to people that intentionally let a problem fester and then report it to the government when the losses start to accumulate.

[Jacob]

I've always been suspicious of the effects of the huge whistleblower rewards...I think the most important control you can have to keep a financial crime from happening in your company is to enable people to raise issues internally as soon as they sense something might be wrong. The whistleblower reward system can give gigantic rewards to people that intentionally let a problem fester and then report it to the government when the losses start to accumulate.

True, but it's a risky gamble. After all, the longer you let it fester the greater the chance that someone else blows the whistle, swiping the reward and leaving you a simple accomplice rather than a whistleblower.

[CountDeMoney]

Remember, you're going to want to choke up on the grip, knees slightly bent, and be sure to turn your hips into the swing.

Not at all. You want your hands close together at the end of the handle, legs braced, swing with the shoulders and pull back with the legs just before impact. It's not a fucking stick.

I was taking Marti's limp wrists into consideration, and going for the side shot.

[Viking]

I've always been suspicious of the effects of the huge whistleblower rewards...I think the most important control you can have to keep a financial crime from happening in your company is to enable people to raise issues internally as soon as they sense something might be wrong. The whistleblower reward system can give gigantic rewards to people that intentionally let a problem fester and then report it to the government when the losses start to accumulate.

This suggests to me that companies should be rewarding their own internal whistle blowers with 10% + promotion to keep their own companies honest.

No they didn't
Birkenfeld resigned from UBS about a year before the DOJ probe began.  DOJ did not even know his identity when BB first approached them through his attorneys.

The odd outcome here is due to the fact that the IRS rules for compensating whistleblowers are different from the Justice Dept guidelines for deciding when not to prosecute whistleblowers.  Birkenfeld basically rolled the dice that DOJ wouldn't prosecute him criminally if he gave the information he had to give to collect the IRS award, and it didn't work out.  But he was stil eligible for the IRS award.

Fair dinkum I say. The guy has cojones and does prove that "these people" really only do care about money.