Navigation

Swiss banks under fire over Madoff fraud

The Lausanne headquarters of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Keystone

Three more Swiss banks have been sued in connection with the financial scam run by Bernard Madoff. On Wednesday, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s investment firm filed complaints in the US bankruptcy court in New York.

This content was published on June 7, 2012
swissinfo.ch and agencies

Trustee Irving Picard hopes to recover several hundred million dollars generated through investments in feeder funds in Madoff’s former company. The complaints seek $354.9 million (SFr340 million) from Swiss private bank EFG Bank SA and $179.4 million from private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie (LODH).

The third one is the cantonal bank of Vaud, which Picard is suing for around $10 million. This bank as well as LODH denied any wrongdoing on Thursday; EFG has refused to comment so far.

The three banks are not the first Swiss financial institutions to come under fire through the Madoff liquidator. In December, Picard filed lawsuits against Credit Suisse and Bank Julius Bär.

UBS has also been sued; thus far a judge has rejected Picard’s request for money. Banks from other countries have also been implicated in the scandal.

Madoff, a former non-executive chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, was arrested at the end of 2008 and charged with securities fraud. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

His multi-billion-dollar scheme ruined many large and small investors.

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

Contributions under this article have been turned off. You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Sort by

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.

Weekly top stories

Keep up to date with the best stories from SWI swissinfo.ch on a range of topics, straight into your mailbox.

Weekly

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.