Geneva justice –
Bankruptcy worth 20 million: prison sentence for the currency trader
The septuagenarian from Geneva is found guilty of fraud. He had hidden his clients’ losses.
Published today at 12:29 p.m.
At the end of a fifty-year career in currencies, the independent currency trader dragged his clients into his downfall in the aftermath of Brexit.
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A prison sentence and a debt of more than 20 million. The verdict of the Criminal Court did not spare the currency trader whose trial was held this week. The 76-year-old man was found guilty of, among other things, fraud, breach of trust and forgery of securities.
Ruined since his bankruptcy declared in 2017, accumulating acts of default of goods, the fallen trader presented himself to the judges with the hope of mitigating the requisitions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and thus avoiding a firm sentence. Alas, his explanations regarding his management of the crisis, his accounting and his relations with his clients were not convincing.
Concealed losses
The alleged facts took place between June 2016 and November 2017. In the aftermath of the financial crash caused by Brexit, the Geneva trader’s company went dark. But the boss refuses to announce the losses to his customers. He then produced falsified statements and received additional funds to continue his speculative operations.
-Already in June 2016, overindebtedness should have led to bankruptcy. This will not be pronounced until the end of 2017. As for the losses, they exceed 20 million francs.
Facing the judges, the man who had a fifty-year career in exchange rates justified himself by asserting that his actions were guided by the desire “to get back on track. I thought I could save the company.”
He is appealing the verdict
In the end, the verdict rendered by the three judges of the Criminal Court corresponds to the indictment of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which had portrayed the accused as a financier from another time busy circumventing the laws and regulations in force. In addition to the prison sentence, the man leaves this trial with a debt equivalent to his losses, more than 22 million.
As soon as the verdict was announced, the septuagenarian’s lawyer appealed this judgment. “The millions surrounding this case have got the better of certain legal principles,” deplores Me Kevin Saddier. On appeal, the defense will request a fully suspended sentence which it considers “fair”.
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