Everyone loves stolen data, even the French authorities!
French financial authorities might have just blown away an interesting case against people suspected of tax evasion because they have used stolen data in their investigation. The French had come across a list of 3000 of their nationals suspected of using Swiss banking secrecy to pay less or no taxes. But the list has been handed to them by a former IT worker at HSBC in Switzerland who, as it happens, did not have the bank’s approval to give it to the French…
The Swiss HSBC confirmed one of their employees was suspected of stealing data (in the 2008-2007 interval), but said case only involved a list of 10 accounts. A conviction of sorts isn’t confirmed, but the former IT employee is rumored to have fled to France where he benefits from French protection.
French newspapers quoted by The Register claim that the stolen list actually contained 4000 names of French clients, all of them holding abut 6 billion EUR, of which only a part were actually suspected of tax evasion. More on this case in The Register and The Times.
