hi hi everyone welcome to "on the money." i'm becky quick. from the battlefield to the board room, the unique program to help vets hone their skills and find jobs. swiss bank secrecy. the story about how one man helped shine the light on mysterious world of swiss banking. he went to jail. why he says his reward of $100 million just isn't enough. >> i think i did something very extraordinary, unprecedented, historic. >> behind the lens and behind the lines. one war photographers remarkable story. and how social media is changing what she does. and helping veterans make the most of their money. benefits for those who serve, "on the money" starts right now. >> this is "on the money." your money, your life, your future.

now, becky quick. >> here's a look at what's making news as we head into a new week "on the money." the all-important housing market may be seeing signs of life. housing starts actually jumped to an eight-year high in april. builders started work on 1.14 million homes last month. that was up more than 20% from march. and the most since november of 2007. the s&p 500 hit an all-time high on thursday. its 10th record close of the year. the nasdaq was within 1% of its all-time high on thursday, as well, as low volatility continued. though the markets fell on friday. the federal reserve's open market committee released minutes from the april meeting and most said a rate hike in june is unlikely. fed members said recent sluggishness in the economy was transitory and due to rough winter weather and a slowdown of america's ports. if you're taking a plane this summer, good luck you'll have plenty of company. an airline trade group says the summer travel in the united states is expected to reach an all-time high because of the

strengthening economy. the group says 222 million passengers will fly on u.s. airlines during the summer. that's up 4.5% from last year. so get ready, you may very well wind up in a middle seat. this is memorial day weekend. the unofficial kickoff to summer. but more importantly a time to honor and remember those who gave their lives for our country. and for many of those who verved life after the military may not be easy especially when it comes to finding a job. the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in april and to 4.7% for america's veterans. but those numbers don't tell the story of the sometimes difficult transition to civilian life for america's most recent vets. for those who served since 9/11, the jobless rate rose to 6.9% in april. that is more than 200,000 veterans struggling to find a job. it is even worse for women and those of african-american and hispanic decent. one of the big reasons veterans struggle to find jobs is a misunderstanding about disabilities.

29% of those who serve since 9/11 have a service related disability and up to 20% may experience post-traumatic stress disorder in any given year. but despite employer concerns, experts say that these vets can add value to companies. the good news, once recent veterans find a job, they earn 11% more than their nonveteran peers. helping veterans leverage their military skills in the business world is the goal of a new military mba program at the university of southern california. usc's marshall school of business offers an mbv, a master of business for veterans. james vogel is the program's director and blake pickell just graduated. want to thank you both for joining us today. >> good morning, becky, good morning. >> good morning gentlemen. james, let's start with you. why is there a need for a master of business program specifically for veterans. how is the curriculum different than the traditional mba? >> i would say the need is really substantiated or driven by the demand. there's a tremendous interest in a program like this.

>> what kind of interest have you seen so far? >> there is lots and lots of inquiries. we have lots of applications. unfortunately we can only accommodate 50 students at a time at this point. but there's many people inquiring into it. >> blake, i want to congratulate you. i know it has only been a week since you graduated, how do you feel right now. >> i feel great, i'm very proud to be a member of cohort 2. and to have graduated from such a great university. i'm just now waiting to get a lot of money from various companies. >> we want to help you out with that. >> thank you. >> make sure companies who might be watching, anybody who's related to a company watching, make sure you give blake a call. you were an officer in the air force, why did you enroll and what skills were you looking to develop? >> the reason i went to the air force academy was really to serve my country, and to basically get technical skills in engineering and program management. and i really thought when i first got there that was all i wanted but i also got a lot of leadership skills.

as well as developed a great work ethic that's carried me through my life. >> i would assume, james, there are a lot of skills that people in the military already come and are ready to go right into the business world. what are some military skills that maybe don't translate? >> we found that it is a very different style of leadership. i mean, the military is a very distinct, kind of professional culture. the way we talk to each other in the military. the way we direct operations. there's doctrine underpinning everything that you do. there is a tremendous amount of predictability in the military that really doesn't necessarily translate into the civilian professional world either. >> blake, what is the biggest difference you learned between what you learned in the military and what you learned in this business leadership class? >> the real things i learned from the program are some of those tangible, hard skills, whether that's statistics, finance, and accounting that i really never had in the air force, because in many ways

we're a nonprofit organization. >> right. >> so through this i gained these skills that i really need to make myself a paramount member of my organization. >> james your students come from all the different branches of the military. we were looking at a breakdown. are they looking to be corporate roles or are they looking to be entrepreneurs once they graduate? >> their ambitions are about as varied as their backgrounds. several want to go on into corporate roles. many of them have transitioned from the service already or some of them are in the reserve components. so they already have a civilian career established and they're looking to advance within that career. and then, especially in this most recent cohort, there's a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit, and so many of them are looking to launch their own ventures, too. >> blake, what is your dream job? >> really my dream job is to actually go to a start-up and work at a start-up and eventually create my own company and be an entrepreneur. when i first came to the program i really thought i'd always be a

corporate guy, that's kind of what was my background. but when i got there i got the start-up and venture bug, per se and really enjoyed it and really liked the innovation and the focus on technology. >> i want to thank you both for joining us, and really want to offer congratulations to both of you. it sounds like a fantastic program. james, thank you for all your efforts with this. and blake, congratulations. >> thank you very much, becky. >> thanks, becky. >> up next, we're on the money. he went from high-powered banker to whistle-blower to convict to multimillionaire. but the stunning story of bradley burken feld and the longest running tax evasion scandal in u.s. history isn't over yet. and later, the photographer who went to war and built a career on the pictures that tell much more than 1,000 words. right now as we go to a break take a look at how the stock market ended the week. don't just visit orlando

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you may not have heard of you may not have heard of bradley birkenfeld, but the internal revenue service, the department of justice, and other u.s. government agencies, are well aware of who he is. he is a former private banker for the swiss bank ubs. it's a fascinating tale of whistleblowing, revenge, and money. lots of money. eamon javers is here with that story. >> becky, as an american working at ubs in switzerland, bradley birkenfeld had access to dozens of bank accounts hidden from the u.s. treasury department. he also had enough information to crack open the confidential relationship between swiss banks and u.s. tax evaders. birkenfeld blue the whistle on the conspiracy, and has endured some incredible highs anding amazing lows along the way. but his story is not over yet. bradley birkenfeld is taking a victory lap. >> i think i did something

very extraordinary, unprecedented, historic. >> for the first time since collecting a massive payout, he is talking about how he became embroiled in and then blew the whistle on the largest and longest running tax evasion scandal in u.s. history. >> you can't possibly calculate the amount of money that's been generated as a result of this historic whistleblowing. >> he was instrumental in the beginning of the unraveling of swiss bank secrecy. there's no question about that. >> scott michael is an attorney specializing in tax litigation. >> i think the game is over. >> birkenfeld, a boston native, moved to switzerland in 1994 to earn his mba and settled in geneva, where he got a job first at credit suisse, then barclays, and finally ubs. one of the few americans allowed in to the mysterious world of swiss banking. >> it was obviously a highly restricted to only people who worked there. it was a very tight work environment. >> the way he describes it, the jobs sound like part undercover

agent, and part personal assistant to the rich and famous. >> you had doctors, lawyers, politicians, ceos. >> hollywood? >> hollywood as well. hollywood stars had accounts there, as well. >> although it's not a crime to have a swiss bank account, it is illegal not to report it to the irs. which birkenfeld says was usually the case. he adds there was other banking violations like required business trips to the united states. you weren't a licensed banker in the united states? >> we were not s.e.c. registered and we were not licensed to give investment advice. so that was clearly a violation. >> and while he says ubs taught bankers to do business this way, a colleague discovered a hidden internal memo that stated those types of practices were prohibited. the stuff about how to break the law, they're training you on. and then the memo about how to follow the law is buried in the internet somewhere? >> that's right. >> and no one trains you on? >> no. >> sensing that he and his

colleagues were being set up, birkenfeld says he complained first to bank authorities and then the justice department and other u.s. government agencies. >> i gave them powerpoint presentations, internal memorandum, lists of all the bankers -- >> his inside information helped lead to ubs paying $780 million in penalties, and admitting to conspiring to defraud the u.s. despite his assistance, birkenfeld was indicted, as well. ubs blames people like birkenfeld, who it points out was sentenced to 40 months in prison after being convicted of aiding and abetting tax fraud, a spokeswoman for the bank added, the business described has been closed since july 2008. ubs today is a different firm. with a different strategic focus, and senior management team. as for birkenfeld, he says he was vindicated after being released from prison, and receiving an enormous irs whistle-blower award. >> i got paid on the fine to ubs, that payment of $104 million was the largest of its kind in this country. >> believe it or not his

attorneys argue he deserves more. a percentage of everything the u.s. has collected from all swiss banks. should you get a billion? >> you'd have to talk to my lawyers on that. >> two billion? >> talk to my lawyers. >> it appears brad birkenfeld's battle isn't over yet. and becky, brad birkenfeld is on probation until november. he tells us that he's likely to leave the country once he's free of the u.s. department of justice. >> wow. so he thinks he deserves even more? you couldn't get a number out of how much more? >> he says he doesn't feel entitled to anything more than the law requires. but under the irs whistleblowing provision you're untighted to a percentage of everything you get for the irs, all that money that came in. he was paid as a percentage of the ubs penalty. he and his lawyers are arguing he should get all of the money that came in to the u.s. treasury from all the swiss banks altogether. >> you mention incredible highs and incredible lows. would you do 2 1/2 years to get $100 million at the end? >> that's the question.

he did not know when he went into prison that he was going to get all this money. he had to sweat it out for 2 1/2 years in a federal prison which is not a lot of fun. a lot of people say i'd do that deal. i don't think i would personally. i have small kids. birkenfeld has no kids, never married so maybe it's a different equation for him. >> eamon thank you. fascinating story. >> you bet. >> up next we are "on the money." the woman whose life sparked a hollywood bidding war. why steven spielberg and others came calling for a photographer's war stories. and later a helping hand fortunate returning vets and their families from credit cards to higher ed to stoorting a bris. benefits for those who serve.

behind the life behind the lens can lead a photographer to some 6 the world's most devastating conflict zones in pursuit of the truth. the images to tell a story to the world. lynsey addario is a journalist who was kidnapped twice while covering war zones. she's the author of "it's what i do: a photographer's life of love and war." and lynsey, thank you so much for being here today. >> thank you for having me. >> you know, you've worked in parts of the world and in situations where women rarely are. what led you to getting into the pursuit of war photography? >> i never set out to be a war photographer. i grew up in connecticut and the daughter of hairdressers, actually. i sort of i moved overseas in 2000.

i started covering afghanistan under the taliban then. i was living in india. it was very close. many of the journalists there were covering afghanistan. it was a gradual process. some of the stories drew me into these places that happened to be in conflict zones. >> a lot of people remember the stories of what happened to you. in 2011 you were kidnapped with a member of "the new york times" coworkers. what happened in that situation? >> it was during the uprising in libya. it was a popular uphiezing so it was very sort of ad hoc. we'd been fighting with the rebels, was coming from the east, gadhafi's troops were moving in from the west. and we were behind -- positioned behind the rebels, but the front line was moving very quickly and gadhafi's troops came in and took over the and instead of coming behind us they flanked the desert and set up a checkpoint in front of us. when we went to flee we ran directly into one of the gadhafi checkpoints. >> you were released within a

short period of time. but that's not to say that this wasn't a very harrowing period of time. were there moments you thought you were going to die? >> yeah, it was almost seven days and it felt like a lifetime. we were beaten repeatedly. punched in the face. the men were smashed on the back of the head with gun butts. for me as the only woman i was groped repeatedly. we were tied up and blindfolded for much of the first three days. the entire time we thought there was a chance we might get killed because when you're captive you have no idea if you'll survive until you're actually released and across the border of that country. >> let's talk about how the world has changed in the time that you have been a war photographer, too. it seems that everybody has a phone with a camera on it these days. how does that impact what it is that photographers do in some of these areas? >> i sort of learned on the job and i feel like i know about the ethics of journalism and how to be a good journalist and how to

verify my facts. i think there are so many people with cameras now who file pictures, put pictures on social media, whose publications reprint those pictures but it's very important that people make -- people differentiate between what are the sources of those images. are those trained journalists? where are they coming from? how do we know that that's the truth? >> it's been reported that there was a hollywood bidding war to tell your story. and word is that steven spielberg could actually end up making a movie about your life, starring jennifer lawrence. what's that like to have that kind of buzz around you? >> so, warner brothers has optioned the rights to the book. and there are definitely people interested. it's hard for me to comment sort of on who exactly is going to end up doing what because we're so far out. the screen play has not been written yet, but the great thing about is it that more people will know more about the stories that i care so deeply about. >> lynsey, thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> thank you.

up next "on the money" a look at the news for the week ahead. and from home loans to credit cards to college tuition, benefits to help america's veterans transition back to civilian life. constant contact gives you all the best email marketing tools- like newsletters and event invites. so whether you run a small business or a nonprofit, you can connect ...well...everyone. try email marketing-free-at constant contact dot com.

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an monday the markets are closed for memorial day. tuesday, durable goods orders for april are due. those are items that range from refrigerators to airplanes, things that don't have to be purchased frequently. also tuesday, the former morgan stanley cfo will have her first day at google. she is the new cfo. and on friday the second estimate of gross domestic product for the first quarter will be released. it is memorial day weekend and america is paying tribute to the men and women who gave their lives for their country. it's also a time to think about our veterans. many have transitioned successfully to everyday lives. but there are others who face financial challenges. joining us right now is our senior personal finance correspondent sharon epperson to talk about how veterans can make the most out of their money and their future. and sharon we know that the economy has been recovering. it's helped out americans across the board. i just wonder if that in itself is helping the transition for some of our veterans. >> it is for some of them. but keep in mind that it's a different situation when

you're a service member and used to a steady paycheck. you're used to having a ton of military benefits that are available to you. many military and service members are able to build up savings even better than the average american in many cases, but there are other issues that confront them like credit that where they fall behind a lot of the civilian population. and so those are issues that they really need to seek out some financial counseling for. and many just don't know where to turn. >> so what can we do to help ease some of that strain that comes with that? >> well, a lot of folks know what service members get in terms of benefits. one of the ones that is most important to many service members is that post-9/11 gi bill that can help them go to college and pays for tuitions and fees. that's something they're very aware of. in some cases that's not enough if they are getting a degree, want to get an advanced degree not covered by the g.i. bill. they have other education expenses still not covered. they're still having to confront themselves with a lot of student debt. so that's where leave no veteran behind scholarship program comes in. a lot of veterans may not know

that's available to them. that's a retro active scholarship program so what's not covered by the g.i. bill they can use the money from this scholarship to help them meet some of those expenses. >> what other benefits exist not only for the benefits but for the family. >> i mention that credit is a big issue for many. they may not realize there are some resources out there where they can get much lower credit in terms of credit card interest rates. and that's something to think about. the other thing to think about is what you can get in terms of home loans. you can get more favorable terms there, no pmi, no private mortgage insurance that's very important. job training programs. and then small business loans. small business programs, and training available to veterans is also something that you want to think about. >> it's probably less important now in terms of the low home interest rates and things, but if the fed raises rates i would guess that that becomes more and more attractive. >> that definitely becomes more and more attractive. it also becomes more attractive when you're looking at interest rates on their credit cards. so going somewhere like usaa going to some of the other

military credit unions to find out where the lowest rates are and where you can get rates on other products that's something that you want to pursue as well because you might find much lower interest rates. >> sharon, thank you so much. my pleasure. >> that's the show for today i'm becky quick. thank you so much for joining us. next week maybe your next date night should combine romance with finance. forget about the champagne, bring the calculator instead. the perfect time to discuss financial plans with your spouse. each week keep it right here we're "on the money." have a great one and we'll see you next weekend. the technology changes, the design evolves, the engineering advances. but the passion to drive a mercedes-benz is something that is common... to every generation of enthusiast.

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