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A Swiss private banker has been indicted on multiple counts of theft, money laundering and fraud, and is also accused of using client funds to illegally recapitalize the struggling financial firm he worked for. He was indicted.
The individual, whose anonymity is protected under Swiss criminal law, was accused by Swiss prosecutors on Wednesday of obtaining 14 million francs (approximately $15.4 million) in a multi-layered criminal conspiracy spanning seven years, ending in 2015. accused.
He was a director of a small private bank based in Geneva, but his name was also withheld in the indictment filed in the southern Swiss city of Bellinzona.
The banker allegedly deposited large sums of money in his own name in his own bank in early 2008, but the money actually belonged to a third party and the money was stolen from government authorities. wanted to hide true ownership to protect his wealth.
The banker then abused the customer's trust to steal the money outright, and then used the money to make large loans to colleagues, family and friends.
„It is believed that the assets were primarily used for the enjoyment of the defendant and his family,“ the prosecutor said.
Then the fraud was discovered money laundering Swiss authorities questioned the banker's large transfers to companies in the Dominican Republic. The funds that flowed back from these companies to bankers were of „criminal origin,“ prosecutors said.
The case is the latest in a series of scandals exposing the enormous discretionary power Swiss bankers and wealth managers typically enjoy over their clients' assets, and the associated potential for abuse.
Despite significant changes to Switzerland's banking secrecy laws and compliance practices over the past decade and a half, the world's largest center of offshore wealth continues to be plagued by a steady stream of scandals.
Several recent cases have come to court showing that serious crimes went undetected for many years due to a culture and system that still values secrecy and personal relationships.
The banker was also said to have routinely forged bank statements and handed them over to his customers, who were trying to deceive banks and money laundering authorities by revealing the true status of their accounts. did not reconfirm.
Prosecutors also alleged that the bankers tried to use at least CHF1 million of their clients' funds to keep the bank afloat. At one stage he invested half a million francs from that money to help recapitalize the bank, and even though he had been informed that a criminal investigation was underway against him, he further He tried to spend 500,000 francs of his funds.
The cases of fraud and money laundering uncovered by prosecutors have undermined the ability of Swiss regulators to effectively monitor and change corporate practices across the country's dozens of banks and more than 950 registered independent asset managers. is raising doubts.
In October, Swiss banker Benjamin G., a former employee of Julius Baer, was convicted. stole over 22 million francs From the savings of an elderly couple in Israel and Ukraine. He also routinely falsified bank statements and was given full power of attorney over client assets.