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Birkenfeld received the award under the IRS whistleblower program, which gives informants a percentage of money the U.S. government recovers after fraud is found. The IRS explained its decision to award the money by citing Birkenfeld’s “exceptional cooperation” and the “breadth and depth” of the information he provided, all of which led to “unprecedented actions” against UBS, according to an IRS document provided by Birkenfeld’s attorneys. The IRS used the information to negotiate a $780 million settlement with UBS in 2009. Under that deal, UBS admitted to helping U.S. clients cheat on their taxes. The bank later turned over the names of nearly 5,000 U.S. clients suspected of tax evasion. IRS amnesty programs have since collected $5 billion from people who participated in UBS’s illegal scheme based on the information provided by Birkenfeld. Dean Zerbe of Zerbe, Fingeret, Frank & Jadav, P.C., Stephen M. Kohn and David K. Colapinto of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto successfully represented Birkenfeld in his case before the IRS Whistleblower Office.