Former Julius Baer Swiss banker, Rudolf Elmer, handed over documents to WikiLeaks, which led to his arrest this past Sunday on suspicion of breaching Swiss banking secrecy laws.  The documents reportedly contain details on over 2,000 prominent individuals and companies, including 40 politicians and “pillars of society” from all over the world, who supposedly engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity.  

    Elmer's Whistle-Blowing History.   Both Mr. Elmer and WikiLeaks founder Julius Assange have a history of attempting to expose financial misdoings.  Mr. Elmer, previously provided documents from his former employer to national tax authorities, including the IRS.  Of course, there's been a lot of focus recently on WikiLeaks for its proclamation that it would release information on an American bank - thought to be from the hard drive of a BofA executive.  No telling yet where this apparent new focus by WikiLeaks and the information turned over by Elmer may lead.  Potential release of U.S. names could have major implications for U.S. investigations.

In a separate case, Elmer was also convicted on January 19 of breaching banking secrecy by passing on private client data to the tax authorities and of threatening employees at his former firm Julius Baer.  He appealed this verdict.  [Reuters, 1/25]