Sebastian Derungs/AFP/Getty Images

This picture shows a person walking past a building of the Swiss Bank UBS in the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich

For billionaires with an aversion to paying taxes, the Swiss bank account has long been the parking spot of choice. The seemingly impermeable system of numbers is designed to shield their wealth from the IRS. But the decades-old code of silence was recently broken when UBS insider Bradley Birkenfeld blew the whistle, turning over the names and bank balances of his wealthiest clients to US officials. But rather than hailing him as a hero, the Department of Justice slapped Birkenfeld with an indictment, accusing him of plotting to defraud the government even as he cooperated with prosecutors. Public outcry was swift. The New York Times wrote that Birkenfeld deserved “a statue on Wall Street, not a prison sentence.” But the judge gave him 40 months in federal prison. It’s rare for the DOJ to indict such a valuable informant – so why did they do it in this case?

Guest:

Michael Bronner, correspondent for the international news site GlobalPost; his five-part series about Bradley Birkenfeld and Swiss Banks is online at GlobalPost.com