talk about this unprecedented award to brad birkenfeld who has just gotten out of jail. >> well, it is largest whistleblower award in history, but birkenfeld turned in the largest financial fraud. he turned in 19,000 felons and $20 billion in one unit. but we also know 33,000 people are turning themselves in, and the total amount of u.s. dollars in illegal offshore accounts is over $5 trillion. that is the estimatedestimation. the irs tried to change the dynamic when the justice department prosecuted by the birkenfeld and one of the most absurd and misguided efforts, they took a person who turned in the keys to the kingdom, the first whistleblower to expose exactly how the legal swiss banking work and illegal offshore banking was working across the world, and instead of using him, the persecuted him. the irs now is turning that around. the irs -- i think one of the reasons they had to give such a big award is because they need informants. they need other bankers to step forward. with the justice department did had a devastating impact on the whistleblower program. they have turned arou

the same federal government that put brad birkenfeld in jail for 31 months is now about to hand him ack for $104 million. and the irony is palpable here. birkenfeld not able to attend the press conference because he's on probation and home confinement. >> thank you. >>> well, waves of sale hitting high in retail after burberry warned the full year profit will come in lower than expected. cnbc's robert frank has got the details. robert. >> thanks, melissa. well, i've been warning of a luxury slowdown throughout the summer. and the reason is one word, that's china. the chinese wealthy, they've filled the gap in the last three years that was left by the americans and the europeans. china is now the world's second largest luxury market behind japan, spending $12 million a year on luxury. that may be slipping. those high rollers aren't rolling like they used to. we started to see it in the spring where we had disappointing wine auctions that sprung to different ticket auctions. sales fell 43% compared to last year. if we also look at the luxury cpi, prices of living large in china, those p

birkenfeld with what's believed to be the largest whistle blower award ever. $104 million. citing his exceptional cooperation. >> with $5 billion collected so far, the award to brad is less than two cents on the dollar for every dollar collected by the treasury. >> reporter: after birkenfeld blew the whistle, he was prosecuted for failing to come completely clean about his own actions to help a client avoid taxes. he's now on home confinement, serving the end of a prison sentence. he and others argued the prosecution was unjust. >> this was the largest tax fraud case in the world, and i sacrificed my reputation, my life, my finances, and this is how i get treated? >> reporter: birkenfeld will have to pay taxes on the award and pay his lawyers, who say they now plan to pursue a presidential pardon. lisa myers, nbc news, washington. >>> now we go to syria, where the civil war has triggered a growing humanitarian crisis that we're on the ground to see. more than a quarter million syrians have been forced to flee their own country. most of them to crowded refugee camps in turkey, lebanon, iraq, and most of all in jordan. nbc's ann curry is reporting from there this w