Crans-Montana bar owners investigated over money laundering suspicions

Jacques and Jessica Moretti (left and centre), owners of the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, and their lawyer. Keystone / Cyril Zingaro

The financial activities of the owners of the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana are being investigated by federal police over allegations of money laundering, according to media reports.

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Swiss public broadcaster RTS reported on Monday that the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) had launched proceedings against Jacques and Jessica Moretti after the New Year’s Eve fire that devastated the ski‑resort bar and killed 41 people.

A Fedpol statement dated February 24 and addressed to the Office of the Attorney General of canton Valais – seen by RTS – suggests the couple may have laundered funds of criminal origin through several of their businesses. Jacques Moretti’s lawyer says no conclusions can be drawn from this document at this stage.

Crans-Montana deadly bar fire

Swiss prosecutors have widened their inquiry into the deadly New Year’s Eve blaze at Le Constellation, which killed 41 people and injured over 100, many of them teenagers and foreign nationals, including several from France and Italy.

On Monday, they added the mayor of Crans‑Montana and four other current or former local officials to the list of suspects. The fire is considered one of the worst disasters in modern Swiss history.

According to RTS, Fedpol’s Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) submitted a complaint to Valais prosecutors outlining opaque transactions, unusual bank activity, a possible “Ponzi‑type” scheme, and other indicators of illicit financial conduct. The document follows mandatory suspicious‑activity reports filed by banking intermediaries. Two banks linked to the Moretti family – Valais Cantonal Bank (BCVS) and UBS (as successor to Credit Suisse) – are concerned. MROS also notes potential links to France, where the family owns properties and businesses.

The 15‑page MROS dossier lists mortgages, leases, government subsidies, legitimate commercial activities, and a series of more dubious financial operations, including unexplained loans and repayments. RTS says MROS is interested in numerous transfers between companies owned by the couple, for whom the presumption of innocence applies.

The sums involved reportedly amount to hundreds of thousands of francs. “This method of operation, transferring funds between the various business entities owned by the Moretti couple, appears to be a modus operandi reminiscent of transit accounts,” says MROS. Transit accounts are accounts used to obscure the traceability of funds. 

Fake documents?

MROS also suspects that Jacques Moretti may have used false documents as guarantees in Switzerland. Beyond money laundering, it believes that misconduct could extend to mismanagement, forgery of securities, and insurance fraud, referencing at least one fire at another of the couple’s establishments, Le Vieux Chalet.

Fedpol additionally cites creditors who allegedly funded the couple’s businesses, including a Valais intermediary previously mentioned by RTS, and a shareholder of a Swiss luxury watch firm who reportedly provided – directly or via connected companies – loans worth more than CHF200,000 ($258,000).

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‘No conclusion can be drawn’

The MROS document also references an individual described as Jacques Moretti’s adopted son, noting that his role within Le Vieux Chalet may be more significant than initially stated. “Given the past ties with Jacques Moretti dating back to his time in Corsica, it cannot be ruled out that certain cases related to Corsican organised crime attributed to Jacques Moretti could in some way affect him as well,” says MROS.

+ Crans-Montana tragedy highlights limits of Swiss federal system

For Patrick Michod, Jacques Moretti’s lawyer, no conclusions can be drawn from this document at this stage: “I would like to stress that MROS is in no way a criminal prosecution authority, and that in practice, a very small percentage of its reports result in a conviction.”

However, lawyer Romain Jordan, representing several victims’ families, told RTS he considers the document highly significant: “This is certainly not a trivial matter and it will be up to the public prosecutor’s office to clarify the various elements on the possible fund transactions, fund movements, particularly from abroad, which have been pointed out by the banking institutions concerned.”

Adapted from French via AI/sb/ts

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