ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Rudolf Elmer, ex-Bank Julius Baer manager who brought charges against his former employer for meancing him, dropped them Thursday 17 November when he appeared in court to appeal his earlier sentencing on a number of charges. A Zurich court ruled against his appeal but this was later overturned by the Swiss federal high court.
ATS Swiss news agency says he would not say if he was offered money by his ex-employer to drop the charges, and that he continued to say the bank had menaced him.
He was given a suspended sentence in January 2011 for threats and theft related to banking data he stole several years ago. He appealed the fines and suspended sentence he was given, and the Swiss federal court ordered the Zurich court to accept his appeal. Today, in court, AST reports, he became bogged down in contradictory statements about emails and faxes related to the theft.
Shortly after being released in January he was re-arrested on charges of breaking Switzerland’s bank secrecy laws, related to sharing data with WikiLeaks. The arrest followed an appearance in public with Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, to talk about sharing the documents.
Elmer still faces these charges.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Two client advisers who have worked for Bank Julius Baer were indicted by a New York court this week for helping 180 American clients hide $600 million in Swiss bank accounts that were never declared to the US tax arm, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The indictment refers only to Swiss Bank 1, but Julius Baer, in a statement received by financial media, has said one is a former employee and the other currently works for the bank.
The indictment, U.S. v. Casadei, 11-cr-866, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan), names them as Daniela Casadei and Fabio Frazzetto. It is not clear if either of the two are in the US at the moment. The indictment mentions a number of unnamed colleagues who helped them, according to Reuters.
Julius Baer has been actively involved in Swiss-US tax negotiations, the wealth management bank notes in a statement 12 October, e-mailed to financial media: “The bank is one of a number of Swiss financial institutions supporting the ongoing tax negotiations between the US and Switzerland and is cooperating with the US government investigation.”
The indictment is not a total surprise, says a number of people interviewed by US and UK financial media, since the US government has made it clear that a number of Swiss banks are under review for their possible role in cases of tax fraud by US citizens.
Business Week reports that some of the 30,000 Americans who used the IRS voluntary disclosure programme have been interviewed by the Justice Department as it builds new criminal cases.
Yves Robert-Charrue. Bank Julius Baer
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Bank Julius Baer has been awarded a license for $100 million for a China fund, six months after it received a Hong Kong license, giving Switzerland’s largest private bank a stronger foothold in the Asian market, Reuters reports Monday 23 May. “The QFII quota, granted by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China’s currency regulator, would allow Julius Baer to buy Chinese stocks and bonds under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme,” according to the news agency.
The QFII quota was awarded seven months after the bank became the 147th bank to be licensed by Hong Kong‘s monetary authority, in October 2010, four years after setting up a representative office in Hong Kong, which then became a full branch late in 2010.
China said in April that it had approved 109 QFII licenses, according to the Wall St Journal.
The bank now considers Asia its second base, and it has said it hopes to open a Shanghai representative office this year.
New CEO for Switzerland named Friday
Yves Robert-Charrue was named chief executive of the bank’s new Region Switzerland Friday 20 May. The single market region will allow to be “the alternative for Swiss-domiciled clients seeking a first-class private banking relationship,” according to Group CEO Boris Collodi.
The 37-year-old Robert-Charrue has, since 2010, been head of the Investment Solutions Group and a member of the executive board.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Hans Baer, scion of the Baer banking family in Zurich died Monday 21 March, age 83, the family announced Tuesday, and with him disappeared a period in Swiss banking history. He was the father of Raymond Baer, chairman of the Board of the Julius Baer Group.
Hans Baer ruled over the family business, one of Switzerland’s most successful private banks, for nearly 30 of the 50 years he worked for the firm, as president of the Executive Board and then chairman before his retirement in 1996. He oversaw the bank’s opening of offices in New York and London. He also oversaw the first public offering of shares, not a surprise given that years earlier, in 1983 when I, as a young reporter working for Time Magazine interviewed “Papa Baer” (and he looked the part, charming and warm and larger than life), he told me that this was where the future of his bank would lie.
The bank later went public and is now listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange as a member of the SMI group of top 20 companies. It is Switzerland’s third largest bank.
Hans Baer was also well known for his active involvement in the arts and for his dynamic contributions to his hometown of Zurich. He was the founding president of the Zurich Festival, among his many projects.
Rudolf Elmer at a press conference in Zurich 19 January
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Rudolf Elmer, the former Bank Julius Baer employee who famously appeared with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks two days before his trial in Zurich for theft and threatening his former employer, has had one of his appeals turned down, his lawyer has told Swiss media in a press release.
He was convicted but given a suspended sentence 19 January for threats and theft, a lighter sentence than the prosecutor had demanded. He was then re-arrested within minutes on suspicion of breaking Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws, with which he was charged 22 January.
The appeal that was turned down 16 February was for the 19 January judgement, which did not cover banking secrecy.
He appealed, 27 January, his 22 January remand in custody for breaking bank secrecy laws by handing information to tax authorities, and this remains pending.
Elmer’s attorney, Ganden Tethong, noted in a press release 22 January that:
“The parties were informed of the court’s ruling this afternoon. In its decision, the court held that:
- there is probable cause to arrest Mr Elmer
- there is danger of collusion; in conclusion
- it granted remand.”
Switzerland’s law forbids bankers from handing data on client accounts to tax authorities unless done so at the client’s request.
Related stories in GenevaLunch:
Julius Baer nemesis reborn as Assange pal (17 January 2011)Rudolf Elmer arrested again over latest WikiLeaks handover (19 January 2011)
Theft and threats out of the way, Zurich turns to bank secrecy law violations to jail former banker
Rudolf Elmer at a press conference in Zurich 19 January
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Rudolf Elmer was arrested again in Zurich Wednesday evening, shortly after being handed a suspended sentence. Elmer had a quick court hearing and sentencing Wednesday 19 January, for threatening his former employer, Bank Julius Baer, and for stealing data from the bank in 2002, which he then gave to WikiLeaks and others in 2008. He was widely reported to have been charged with breaking bank secrecy laws, not in fact the case.
Zurich police say he was taken into custody again late Wednesday on suspicion of breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws after he publicly handed two disks with data to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London, last weekend, stating that they contained bank data. Elmer also said publicly, during his day in court Wednesday, that he had handed over to bank data to tax authorities and media groups.
NZZ reports that the cantonal prosecutor has until Friday evening to decide if Elmer will be charged.
Privacy protection is the umbrella for bank secrecy, professional secrecy laws
Swiss bank secrecy laws are part of a group of privacy protection that also cover data protection in the broader sense, limiting, for example, Google Street View’s right to film and sending to jail, as well as professional secrecy laws. The long-running nuclear proliferation Tinner case in Switzerland has involved questions about professional secrecy being violated.
Elmer might be charged under Article 47 of the civil code which requires bankers to protect the confidentiality of clients’ data. It also allows for a subsequent charge of violating professional secrecy:
Admits he sent anonymous threats to former employer
(TSR video, Fr) Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Rudolf Elmer, famously photographed with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange five days ago in London at a press conference, appeared in court in Zurich Wednesday morning to face several charges of threats against his former Swiss bank employer and theft of bank data.
Elmer admitted in court to some of the charges of threatening his former employer, but not others. His defense rests on the argument that he was a whistleblower who wanted only to reveal corporate corruption.
He acknowledged breaking Swiss bank secrecy laws, part of data protection laws in Switzerland, however, when he admitted that he shared the bank data with “authorities”. It’s not clear who is meant by this.
Elmer’s lawyer argued that he has not broken Swiss banking secrecy laws, since they don’t apply in the Cayman Islands, where he worked for Bank Julius Baer. A spokesman for the bank made the same point to GenevaLunch some months ago.
Elmer appears to have first shared the data, which dates from 1997-2002, with a Swiss business publication, Cash magazine in Zurich.
Elmer faces up to eight months in prison and a CHF2,000 fine if found guilty. Public television TSR reports that the prosecutor had initially requested eight month suspended sentence, but when Elmer was shown turning over yet more data to Assange, in addition to what he gave WikiLeaks in 2008, the prosecutor asked for a sentence that would have to be served, saying Elmer had learned nothing.
He admitted to sending anonymous, menacing e-mail messages to his former employer, but argued that this was because he felt “psychologically threatened” by the bank, that he was under surveillance and asked to take a lie detector test, which he refused to do.
The bank had discovered a data theft shortly before Elmer was fired and bank policy requires employees to take a lie detector test in such an event.
Elmer worked for Bank Julius Baer for 20 years, the last eight of which he was in charge of operations for the bank in the Cayman Islands.
He denied two other charges of threatening his employer, one a bomb alert in Zurich and the other an anonymous demand made from an Internet cafe for the bank to pay him CHF50,000.
Links to other sites: swissinfo, rsr/ats (Fre)
Zurich, where Rudolf Elmer goes on trial for stealing data from Bank Julius Baer
Update 18 January Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was back in the headlines Monday 17 January with a much-publicized appearance with publicity-keen former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who turned over to Assange, at a press conference in London, some 2,000 files with what he says are private bank account details.
Elmer goes on trial 19 January, not for breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws, as has been widely reported, but for theft, forgery and for harassing his former employer’s staff, Bank Julius Baer, Zurich police told GenevaLunch.
Elmer headed the bank’s Caribbean wealth management services for eight years when, according to the bank, his theft of data was discovered and he was fired.
He had worked at the bank for 20 years. Elmer became a whistleblower for WikiLeaks, leaking data with client accounts names in 2008, but the bank data he had access to was already old, from 1997-2002. Elmer had earlier leaked it to Cash magazine in Switzerland and the Wall Street Journal, which published the information in 2005 but without client names.
The bank claims that the data is not only old, but that some of the documents are forged. WikiLeaks technology assessment man Daniel Schmitt (Daniel Domscheit-Berg) has reportedly claimed that some of the information is from the time after Elmer left the Cayman Islands. Elmer, however, told swissinfo in a 3 December 2010 interview that forgeries may have played a role in the information published by WikiLeaks, but his remarks are puzzling:
“One thing that’s certain is that with Julius Bär, genuine and forged documents were published – the latter probably to spread disinformation since Julius Bär couldn’t shut down Wikileaks. Uploading fake data was the only way to question the credibility of the information on Wikileaks. Unfortunately this also shows that Wikileaks didn’t check the data professionally. This is a general weakness of Wikileaks.”
The former Julius Baer employee worked for the bank in the Cayman Islands, where accounts are not covered by Swiss banking secrecy laws, although they are covered by corporate theft laws. He was sought on charges by canton Zurich but not by the Swiss federal government.
Handing two disks to Assange in London, Elmer, who worked for the bank for 20 years, told reporters that “working in the Cayman Islands I realized that something was wrong.” He argues that he wanted “to let our society know what I do know because it’s damaging our society in a way that money is moved away by financial institutions, multinational conglomerates and high-net-worth individuals, money is hidden in offshore ventures.”
Background story, GenevaLunch, “Bank whistleblowers and thieves grab headlines”, 21 January 2010
Zurich, home to banking thrillers
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Call them whistleblowers if you believe their consciences have overcome them, or thieves if you think they’ve broken the law. Whatever the label, people who take client data from Swiss banks that employ them, then offer the information to another government, are suddenly back in the headlines.
French officials told Swiss news agency ATS Thursday evening 21 January that France has handed back to Switzerland data stolen by a French citizen. It made the announcement a day after the Swiss Finance Department said it would not provide administrative assistance to countries in cases where stolen information was used. France told ATS it has kept copies of some of the information, for its own investigations.
The data was stolen from British bank HSBC in Geneva, by Frenchman Hervé Falciani. The case came into the public spotlight late in 2009.
Switzerland is reviewing its legislation with an eye to setting clearer limits for handing over data to a treaty partner when it demands assistance in suspected tax fraud cases.
US newspaper says whistleblowers “chipping away” at bank secrecy
Falciani was not the first bank employee to pocket data. American Bradley Birkenfeld stole UBS client data in 2008 and gave it to the US tax authority, the IRS in a case that has had a major impact on the bank’s reputation and which badly strained US-Swiss relations.
To believe the New York Times 19 January, Swiss Rudolf M Elmer has just become the first whistleblower of 2010, a man who “is chipping away at the centuries-old traditions of Swiss banking secrecy,” in line with Falciani and Birkenfeld.
Zurch, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Bank Julius Baer joins the growing ranks of Swiss banks moving out of the US client managed wealth business. The bank announced that it has begun a gradual shift away from American customers, but the move is not hurting the bank’s overall wealth under management: the bank reports that in the first 10 months of 2009 total client assets increased to CHF234 billion and assets under management rose to some CHF 150 billion, up 17%, compared to a year earlier.
Spokesperson Martin Somogyi told GenevaLunch that details about the US client business are not available now, although the bank may provide them when it releases 2009 full year results in February 2010. He clarified that US citizens resident in Switzerland “who are tax compliant” are not part of this group and will remain bank clients.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Julius Baer Holding announced the pricing of the initial public offering of Artio, its US fund management arm, at $26 per share today. Trading at the New York Stock Exchange begins today 24 September for the first time. Artio, which is largely owned by its New York management team, hopes to raise $650 million from the sale, the proceeds of which will be used to buy a 54 percent stake in the parent company, Julius Baer Holding, if all shares are sold.
Artio is part of GAM, the asset management business that is being separated this year from Bank Julius Baer, which remains a pure private banking operation. The two separately listed businesses are under the umbrella of Julius Baer Holding.
Baer is Switzerland’s third-largest bank and and its largest private wealth manager.
Background: “Bank Julius Baeer’s new Artio arm listed early on NYSE“, 09 September 2009, GenevaLunch
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bank Julius Baer, Switzerland’s largest wealth management bank, is putting Artio Global Investors, a New York-based fund management subsidiary that is heavily owned by local managers, on the New York Stock Exchange by the end of September, slightly ahead of schedule. The move is seen as “a fresh sign companies are starting to trust equities markets again after the subprime crisis,” reports Reuters.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bank Julius Baer has announced a fall of 37 percent in consolidated net profit to CHF 324 million in the first six months of 2009, compared to the same period a year earlier.
Boris Collardi, Bank Julius Baer
Zurich, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The new CEO of Bank Julius Baer, Switzerland’s second largest wealth management bank with CHF338 billion under management, is from Nyon: Boris Collardi, age 34. He finished school in Nyon, began his banking career in Geneva at Credit Suisse and studied at IMD in Lausanne.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alex W Widmer, age 52, chief executive officer at Bank Julius Baer, has died, the bank announced Friday morning. No details were provided except to say that he “died unexpectedly overnight Wednesday.” He is survived by three children.
Zurich, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Julius Baer, Switzerland’s largest wealth management bank, Friday announced an increase in net profits of 28.2% in its first six months, over the same period in 2006, to SFr518 million. The bank manages SFr405.5 billion, of which SFr152.8b is wealth (private fortune) management, which grew by 12%. One-third of the wealth management increase was due to new money invested with the bank. Julius Baer Group press release
