Swiss Bank UBS Takes Appeal of Money Laundering Verdict to French Supreme Court

UBS has filed an appeal over a Paris court’s decision that upheld the company’s conviction for money laundering, Reuters reported Monday (Dec. 20).

The decision also cut the penalty for reportedly helping wealthy clients evade taxes. Switzerland’s biggest bank said the decision “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.”

The French court said that UBS would face a penalty of 1.8 billion euros, which was less than half of the 4.5 billion euros initially imposed in 2019.

Appeals usually take months in France, and the Supreme Court can only rule on a legal technicality instead of the merits of the case. If the Court finds in favor of UBS, the case will return to the appeal court.

The report says UBS had hoped to see the charges completely thrown out, especially the money-laundering allegation, which could have the potential to damage to the company’s reputation.

Lawyers representing the bank said they’d argued in the appeals trial that even though whistleblowers had come forward, investigators didn’t find evidence of UBS making systematic attempts to canvass French customers, including at cocktail parties and hunts.

The court also found UBS guilty of soliciting clients at sports events as well as parties at summer, and of laundering those proceeds through tax evasion.

Fines in Europe for tax-related and other offenses have historically been lower than in the United States. The UBS case has been something of an exception that other banks have been keeping an eye on.

Related: NatWest Faces $350M in Fines After Guilty Plea in Money Laundering Case

In another money laundering case, U.K. state-backed bank NatWest was ruled to have to pay 265 million pounds after pleading guilty for failing to prevent money laundering as of Dec. 13.

NatWest reportedly failed to prevent as much as £400 million ($528 million) in money laundering, failing to identify suspicious activity from a customer putting in hundreds of millions of pounds in cash.