‘Swiss Elon Musk’ jailed for fraud
Swiss businessman Pascal Jaussi has been jailed for five and a half years after being found guilty of embezzlement, fraud, forgery and arson.
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‘Swiss Elon Musk’ jailed for fraud
The Freiburg Commercial Criminal Court handed down the sentence on Jaussi, who was once hailed as the “Swiss Elon Musk” after founding Swiss Space Systems (S3) and promising to revolutionise access to space.
+ The space shuttle made in Switzerland
Jaussi raised large sums of money with a plan to send mini-satellites into space and offer ‘zero-gravity’ flights.
Ticket sales for the zero-gravity flights alone brought in CHF1.64 million – but none ever took off. Instead, the dream ended in bankruptcy. According to the prosecution, Jaussi left behind debts of CHF31.6 million.
The prosecution accused Jaussi of squandering funds on unrealistic projects, deceiving the courts and acting as a fraudster. They had asked for an eight-year prison sentence.
The defence pleaded for an acquittal and painted a picture of a visionary who was overwhelmed by his own project.
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Translated from German, sub-edited by mga
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