UBS appeals against French court’s money laundering ruling
UBS has filed an appeal against the decision by France’s Supreme Court last week to uphold the Swiss bank’s conviction for money laundering.
It comes just a week after a Paris appeals court slashed the bank’s fine for allegedly helping wealthy customers in France evade taxes to £1.5bn – down from an original penalty of over £3.8bn.
But it did so while upholding an original judgement reached in 2019, that the Swiss lender was guilty of soliciting clients illegally at sporting events and parties in France, and of laundering the proceeds of tax evasion.
Immediately after the verdict last week, a lawyer for the bank warned that UBS was intending to making a swift decision on whether to appeal against the ruling, which it had hoped would throw out the charges.
The money laundering allegation is the particular sticking point for the bank, owing to its potential for reputational damage to UBS, which is the world’s biggest wealth manager.
“Today, UBS AG has filed an appeal with the French Supreme Court regarding the decision of the Court of Appeal, including a fine of EUR 3.75m, the confiscation of EUR 1bn, and civil damages of EUR 800m,” the bank said in a statement today.
“This enables UBS AG to thoroughly assess the verdict of the Court of Appeal and to determine next steps in the best interest of its stakeholders.”
A seven year investigation into the bank’s actions by French authorities led to evidence that showed UBS bankers had deployed a range of tactics to illegally procure clients around France at corporate events, including using self-erasing hard drives and business cards with no logos.