HSBC whistle-blower sentenced to 5 years

Herve Falciani, the former HSBC employee whose disclosures uncorked the “Swissleaks” scandal on bank-supported tax evasion, was sentenced in absentia today to five years in prison, Switzerland’s ATS news agency said. Falciani, who worked as an IT specialist with HSBC, was convicted of industrial espionage by a federal court in the southern Swiss town of Bellinzona. The 43-year-old French-Italian national refused to travel to Switzerland to appear at trial.

Falciani can appeal his conviction at Switzerland’s highest court, but he will not serve any prison time in the federation so long as he remains in France, which does not extradite its citizens. The former HSBC employee leaked a cache of documents allegedly indicating the bank’s Swiss private banking arm helped more than 120,000 clients hide 180.6 billion euros ($ 205.4 billion) from tax authorities. Falciani has been celebrated as a whistleblower by some, but Swiss authorities claimed he was motivated by money, citing evidence that he wanted to sell the data he stole.