Lucifer’s Banker Uncensored: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy by Bradley C. Birkenfeld
A must-read, real-life thriller, about a personal banker to the ultra-wealthy that managed to help them hide billions from the prying eyes of government tax officials! Who then turns whistle-blower and rats them all out over a measly 600,000 Swiss francs.
Money, fast cars, and beautiful women were just an everyday thing for Bradley Birkenfeld until his bosses betrayed him. Read how this private banker working for the largest bank in the world, UBS, turns whistle-blower to the US Government. Just imagine had a couple of stingy bosses not been so cheap and paid out an annual year-end Christmas bonus, the rich would still not be paying taxes!
First off, the law only says you must “file” taxes, not “pay” taxes. Second, there is no fine print that says you can hide your wealth offshore and pay no taxes on those assets, as some folks have found out. Third, disregard all those negative reviews that bash Birkenfeld for his playboy lifestyle, for being too into himself, and for being a narcissist who only takes revenge on his employer when they stab him in the back. Those reviewers are just jealous they don’t have a piece of the $104 million pie the IRS handed Bradley for his coming forward and blowing the whistle on the most preeminent tax fraud scheme the world has come to know. Just read the books for the insights into banking that Birkenfield dives into, and don’t worry so much about how he portrays himself. My guess is most folks in his shoes would not have given up the lifestyle he so thoroughly enjoyed.
As for the book itself, I thought it was a great read. One of those few novels I just couldn’t put down. Birkenfeld delves into the lifestyle of a high flying banker, who jet sets around the world to meet with wealthy clients, stays at the finest hotels, dines at 5-Start restaurants, drives fast cars, dates faster women, and never worries about what anything will costs. He sprinkles just enough humor and wit in with some details of tax evasion schemes the ultra-wealthy use to hide their money from their governments to keep things exciting from start to finish.
Of course, we would all love to know who those 19,000 American names were on the list he handed over to the DOJ, IRS, and Senate, but as we all know (or at least those of us who aren’t so clueless about the rich and powerful people that run the show) that list will never see the light of day.
Although a couple of names get revealed in the book, it’s the “other” individuals mentioned that ran the investigation, brokered the deals that kept everything hush-hush, and details related to those individuals that Birkenfeld dives into in the book that should scare you. There’s an old quote by John Dalberg-Action, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…” John forgot that there are women who fall into that category too!
Anyway, I highly recommend this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Birkenfeld includes many funny and incredible anecdotes about his life as a banker while delving into the serious details of his legal voyage as a whistle-blower.
By the way, there is one thing I would change, and it is the final sentence in the book that reads, “Only the devil knows that.” It should read, “Only the devil himself, Lucifer, knows that.” Think about it, the book is titled Lucifer’s Banker, and he should get full credit in the end!
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