Lombard Odier Bank and a former employee were indicted in Switzerland for aggravated money laundering.

On November 26, 2024, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland filed an indictment against Banque Lombard Odier & Cie SA and one of its former employees at the Federal Criminal Court. They are accused of aggravated money laundering.

The charges are linked to the concealment of proceeds from a criminal organisation known as “The Office,” allegedly led by Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the former President of Uzbekistan. The former employee is accused of managing bank accounts that facilitated the laundering of these funds between 2008 and 2012.

During this period, Lombard Odier was charged with failing to comply with anti-money laundering standards and internal guidelines. The bank has denied wrongdoing and stated that it has cooperated fully with the authorities.

This case is significant as it involves one of Switzerland’s oldest and most prestigious private banks.

▪️ Allegations made against the former employee:

In his role as relationship manager, the defendant is notably alleged to have:

- Opened or having arranged for the opening of, between Aug. 2008 and Aug. 2012, nine bank accounts of “The Office” intended to receive funds derived from crimes committed by this criminal organisation.

- Subsequently managed these bank accounts, for which false beneficial owners were allegedly named.

- Failed to report that false beneficial owners were allegedly named, despite knowing that the valid and sole beneficial owner of the funds was Gulnara Karimova.

- Falsely described a company «The Office» as an operating company, knowing that it had no business activities and no employees and had been set up by the criminal organisation solely to provide a legal cover for the transfer of funds of criminal origin.

- Failed to clarify, or falsely clarify, or falsely and belatedly clarify the economic background of the credits and debits involved in the nine bank accounts in question.

- Should have informed the Compliance Monitoring unit, thereby circumventing the obligation to report the matter immediately to the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland.

▪️Allegations made against the bank:

The OAG alleges that, from at least 2008 to 2012, the bank's AML programme was deficient in several respects. The bank notably failed to take all appropriate and necessary organisational measures to prevent the commission of aggravated money laundering offences within the bank.

The investigation revealed in particular shortcomings in:

-  The identification and reidentification of the beneficial owners of the bank accounts in question;

-  The obligation to conduct additional due diligence on higher-risk business relationships;

-  The acceptance and annual review of business relationships with PEPs,

-  The obligation to identify and clarify higher-risk transactions;

-  The bank's internal organisation.

Source:  

(1) Lombard Odier Bank and a former employee indicted at the Federal .... https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-103351.html.

(2) Lombard Odier indicted in Switzerland for money laundering - Yahoo Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lombard-odier-indicted-switzerland-money-092040175.html.