They almost had him.

On December 22nd, 2008, Swiss federal police handcuffed 36-year-old Herv Falciani, a systems specialist they suspected of stealing data from HSBC Private Bank Geneva, his employer, and trying to sell it to banks in Lebanon. They seized his computer, searched his Geneva home and interrogated him for hours.

Then -- on the condition that he return the next day for more questioning '" they let him go.

And go he did. Renting a car, Falciani picked up his wife and daughter and drove straight to France. Read more