WikiLeaks’ Next Leak May Expose Tax Cheats

A former senior Swiss bank executive is teaming up with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to release details of more than 2,000 prominent individuals and companies that he claims engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity, the New York Times reports.

Rudolf M. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, refused to identify any of the individuals or companies, but he told reporters at a news conference that about 40 politicians and “pillars of society” were among them.

He told The Observer newspaper over the weekend that those named in the documents come from “the U.S., Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia — from all over,” and include “business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates — from both sides of the Atlantic.”

Mr. Elmer handed two computer disks to Mr. Assange at the news conference, the first significant public event the WikiLeaks founder has held since he was arrested in London in early December after Swedish prosecutors sought to have him extradited on charges of sexual crimes there.

Assange said that WikiLeaks would verify and release the information — including names — in as little as two weeks.

Elmer claimed to have previously passed the information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and turned to Assange and WikiLeaks to “educate society” about what he considers an unfair economic system.

“The man in the street needs to know how this system works,” he said, referring to offshore trusts that many “high net worth individuals” use to dodge taxes.

It’s not clear how Elmer obtained the records and he has declined to provide specifics.  In 2005, he was detained for 30 days in connection with allegations he falsified documents and violated Swiss banking secrecy laws.  He was also accused of trying to coerce former employers by threatening to disclose private information.