Herve Falciani, a former IT specialist at HSBC bank, was sentenced to five years in jail on Friday for industrial espionage, data theft and violating Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws. Agence France-Presse said Falciani leaked documents showing that HSBC’s Swiss arm assisted its clients to evade taxes worth up to $205.4 billion. Though Falciani’s findings were lauded by some, Swiss authorities claimed he revealed inside information on the bank’s workings for his own benefit, and said he stole the data for money. The French-Italian national did not travel to Switzerland for the trial, and might not serve prison time in the federation if he stays in France, as France does not extradite its citizens. Falciani denied the claims that he had sought personal gain from exposing the fraud.