In one of the biggest fraud cases in recent US economic history, Switzerland is handing over around $200 million (CHF178 million) to the United States.
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Caso Stanford: Suiza restituye $200 millones a EEUU
The money is to be returned to the injured parties, the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said in a statementExternal link on Monday.
The restitution became possible after the US investment broker Allen Stanford was convicted of fraud in the US. Stanford had defrauded thousands of investors out of more than $7 billion between 2001 and 2008 with a Ponzi scheme. For this, he was sentenced to 110 years in prison in the US in 2012. The criminal assets were confiscated in favour of the injured parties.
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Victims of $7bn Ponzi scheme compensated
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The company Stanford Group (Suisse) in Liquidation has been fined CHF1 million ($1.14 million) for aggravated money laundering and sentenced to pay compensatory claims of CHF6-9 million, as well as to bear the costs of the proceedings. Both the fine and the compensatory claims will go to the victims of the investment fraud. The Swiss…
Switzerland supported the US in these criminal proceedings. The FOJ handed over to the US authorities relevant bank documents relating to various accounts in Swiss banks and ordered the seizure of assets in Swiss accounts.
In 2019, following the final confiscation judgment in the US, the FOJ ordered the return of the frozen assets. The appeals filed against this were dismissed by the Federal Criminal Court on October 16, 2020.
The FOJ said it would therefore return the remaining $150 million to the US authorities in favour of the victims by the end of December 2020. The first tranches have already been paid.
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Liquidators of the fraudulent scheme have demanded $2.5 billion (SFr2.47 billion) from UBS bank while Union Bancaire Privée has agreed to pay back up to $500 million in lost funds. Other institutions may also soon face civil or criminal suits. Disgraced trader Bernard Madoff is serving a 150-year jail term for setting up the most…
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Two banks have admitted getting their fingers burnt while speculation is intensifying that other financial institutions have lost up to SFr5 billion in the Bernard Madoff Investment Securities scam. The full extent of the global fraud, masterminded by former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff, was still emerging on Monday after the US authorities intervened on Thursday.…
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Finma has seized or blocked CHF2 million ($2.07 million) linked to Quid Pro Quo Association, which issued the E-Coins, along with Digital Trading and Marcelco Group. It has also launched bankruptcy proceedings against the trio of firms. “These three legal entities accepted funds amounting to at least four million Swiss francs from several hundred users,”…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.