ZURICH (Reuters) -A top Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted Credit Suisse of a 2022 criminal conviction when the bank that is now part of UBS was found guilty of failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang.
In June 2022, the Federal Criminal Court found a former employee of Credit Suisse guilty of money-laundering, which included testimony on murders and cash stuffed into suitcases in what was seen as a test case for the prosecution of banks.
Judges had looked at whether Credit Suisse and the female ex-employee did enough to prevent the cocaine trafficking gang from laundering profits through the bank from 2004 to 2008.
The former employee died in April 2023 and her heirs and the bank filed an appeal against the conviction that November.
In a statement, the appeals chamber of the Federal Criminal Court said that given the woman’s death, it was not possible to examine the alleged violation of the Swiss criminal code without violating the presumption of innocence in her case.
“For this reason, the bank was acquitted and the compensation demand imposed on it was cancelled,” it said.
Credit Suisse collapsed in March 2023 after a series of scandals and setbacks, and was taken over by UBS.
UBS welcomed the ruling, noting that the case was a legacy matter relating to Credit Suisse.
(Writing by Dave Graham, Editing by Rachel More)
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