HSBC whistleblower given five years’ jail over biggest leak in banking history

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/nov/27/hsbc-whistleblower-jailed-five-years-herve-falciani

By Juliette Garside
The Guardian
27 November 2015

The whistleblower who exposed wrongdoing at HSBC’s Swiss private bank has 
been sentenced to five years in prison by a Swiss court.

Hervé Falciani, a former IT worker, was convicted in his absence for the 
biggest leak in banking history. He is currently living in France, where 
he sought refuge from Swiss justice, and did not attend the trial.

The leak of secret bank account details formed the basis of revelations – 
by the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and other media outlets – which showed 
that HSBC’s Swiss banking arm turned a blind eye to illegal activities of 
arms dealers and helped wealthy people evade taxes.

While working on the database of HSBC’s Swiss private bank, Falciani 
downloaded the details of about 130,000 holders of secret Swiss accounts. 
The information was handed to French investigators in December 2008 and 
then circulated to other European governments.

[...]

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