Like the IRS, the SEC also has a whistleblower program.  However, the SEC whistleblower program, initiated just over a year ago, would not have paid out an award to the likes of Mr. Birkenfeld.  Birkenfeld withheld important information from federal prosecutors in the case, which led to a felony conviction and two and a half years in prison.

What do you think?  Should the IRS have paid Birkenfeld even though he had “dirty hands”?