Pardon UBS Whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld! (International Version)

Bradley Birkenfeld exposed a $20 billion offshore tax fraud scheme at UBS, one of the largest banks in the world. Despite stepping forward to uncover the illegal scheme, he was thrown in prison.

What kind of message does this send to other honest bankers who might be willing to expose fraud on a massive scale?

The Department of Justice has admitted that "but for Mr. Birkenfeld," the illegal tax scheme run by UBS would not have been discovered by the U.S. government. As a direct result of Mr. Birkenfeld's disclosures, UBS agreed to pay a $780 million fine, it shut down its illegal $20 billion offshore program, and 14,700 people were forced to admit to having illegal secret bank accounts.

The person solely responsible for the recovery of billions of U.S. tax dollars is the same person who has served more time than anyone connected to the UBS scandal. President Obama can fix this injustice by issuing a full presidential pardon.

President Obama has an opportunity today to send a message that the U.S. will protect and encourage whistleblowers in the international banking industry, not destroy them. Tax cheats are still out there, and we will need more insiders like Mr. Birkenfeld to catch them. Issuing a presidential pardon is absolutely critical to ensuring that the radical chilling effect created by Mr. Birkenfeld's sentence is reversed.