Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The French public prosecutor in Nice, southern France, Eric de Montgolfier, has revealed that his office is in possession of confidential details of up to 130,000 clients from HSBC’s private banking branch in Geneva. The data was acquired by the French state when Hervé Falciani, a former IT employee of the bank, left HSBC with the details stored on his laptop. Journal de Dimanche reports that 3,000 of the bank’s clients are French citizens.
The whistleblower, who is reported to have received a new identity and is said to be in hiding in fear of his life, told French public television that he acted out of idealism: “Either you bury your head in the sand or you try to do something about it.”
HSBC had earlier downplayed the theft saying that the details involved “potentially fewer than 10 clients”. The Swiss government has asked the French government in Paris for official assistance in a case of data theft.
Background: “Swiss ask French for help in bank client data theft“, 11 December 2009, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Euronews (video), Journal de Dimanche, TSR
News story, GenevaLunch, 14 December 2009.
Filed under: Business
Tags: data theft, Eric de Montgolfier, Geneva, Hervé Falciani, HSBC, Nice France, Paris France, private banking, public prosecutor, Switzerland, whistleblower
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