Ex-UBS whistleblower hits out at ‘corrupt’ US justice

[DJ13]

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

GENEVA — Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld hit out on Saturday against the "corrupt" US judiciary which sent him to jail even though he was the whistleblower who led to the US tax fraud case against the bank.

"The Department of Justice's corruption is evident today -- why am I the only one in prison when I had revealed everything?" the US banker asked in a French-language interview with Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

Birkenfeld turned in thousands of people for trying to evade taxes in the United States. But he was sentenced in August 2009 to three years and four months in jail for inciting UBS clients to commit tax fraud.

Martin Liechti, who headed the bank's wealth management service in the Americas, was detained by US authorities, but later allowed to return to Switzerland.

Birkenfeld claimed that officials had allowed Liechti to get away as he knew too much about high-profile clients of the bank.

"Why did they let Martin Liechti go?" he asked.

"Martin Liechti knew all the big clients. He knows the secrets that the Bush administration did not want revealed.

They made an arrangement to allow him to leave for Switzerland where no one would be able to interrogate him," claimed Birkenfeld.

He charged that the fact that the Department of Justice failed to uncover the tax fraud without his help showed that it was "not only incompetent, but corrupt."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/0828/whistleblower-corrupt-justice/

[fasttense]

1. There is no longer any justice in our justice system.

It's all about who can bribe the most people in power. If you are one of the elite uber wealthy, you can buy justice. If you are not rich, you have no voice.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Our justice systems now obstruct investigations in order to keep

governments and heavy campaign donors from being sued,

They don't protect us.

[JDPriestly]

3. Thanks for mentioning that fasttense.

I was thinking of starting a thread about how the extremely unequal distribution of wealth in our country results in an equally unequal distribution of justice here.

You might initially think that the effects would be most felt in criminal courts. But depending on the state and on the charges faced, a defendant in a criminal court is likely to have adequate if not always extremely competent legal assistance. In Los Angeles, the public defender may know the prosecutors and the judges pretty well and be able to get a good plea bargain. Of course, as we saw in the OJ Simpson case, you get what you pay for in terms of investigation and legal creativity and that makes a huge difference for defendants. But at least, defendants facing criminal charges are not simply left to their own devices in criminal court.

Getting a fair trial in a civil court is a more serious problem if you are much poorer than your opponent. In small claims court you may be fine, but watch out if you are sued for a large amount of money and end up in a civil court. Your lawyer probably bills for every 15 or so minutes spent on your case, and the fees add up very, very quickly because good legal work takes a lot of time. If your opponent can afford to pay whatever it costs to win and has hired a good lawyer, your legal fees can be astoundingly high. And very few people can master enough civil procedure to defend themselves or prosecute a case successfully without a really competent, experienced lawyer.

But, nowhere is the injustice that the extreme inequality in wealth distribution causes more evident than in divorce court. If one spouse has access to lots of money and hires a lawyer that charges $700 an hour and the other spouse has no money and a couple of kids to feed and can't even afford to pay $100 per hour, God help the poor children. It can take a very long time for a poor parent to get child support in Los Angeles. And that is in spite of the fact that the courts in Los Angeles provide help to those representing themselves in divorce cases. The judges in Los Angeles Family courts are for the most part really great, but it's just hard for people to deal with all the procedures and requirements without a lawyer at their side.

The effect of the economic imbalance on things like access to justice are ignored by the right wing.
Yet many of Limbaugh and Glenn Beck's most ardent fans will find themselves on the losing end when in court unless they have a lot of money.

The Republicans pretty much destroyed public funding for legal services for the poor except in very limited situations. Your chance of getting a fair outcome in mediation or arbitration may be no better if you cannot afford a lawyer.

And don't blame the lawyers. The fees a client pays have to cover not only the lawyer's office overhead (copiers, books, on-line reference services) and living expenses (don't forget those student loans) but also malpractice insurance which can be quite expensive.

Justice costs money. And if you don't have money, you will have a harder time getting justice. It can really hurt.

[slipslidingaway]

4. knr nt

[slipslidingaway]

5. kick nt

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Wealth rules. "Justice" is only for those weaker than the power brokers.

It becomes ever more glaring and frequent as we continue to let it pass.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

7. Shh. Not important. Ooo, look...

SHINY