Ex-Mirabaud partner and Swiss banking lobby chief convicted of bribery in Kuwait case
Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court convicted Pierre Mirabaud, a former partner at Geneva private bank Mirabaud & Cie and former head of the Swiss Bankers Association, of corruption and money laundering. The half-day hearing closed a long prosecution over payments to a Kuwaiti government official. For financial-crime teams, the case shows how an individual conviction can follow years after a regulator settles with the firm.
- Pierre Mirabaud, 77, received a suspended two-year prison sentence after admitting corruption and money laundering at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on 8 September 2026.
- Prosecutors alleged hundreds of payments totalling 82.3 million Swiss francs ($101.7 million) to a Kuwaiti government official between 2000 and 2012 to win $595.2 million of bank business.
- Mirabaud headed the Swiss Bankers Association from 2003 to 2009 and retired from the bank in 2009, continuing as a consultant until 2012.
- Prosecutors sought 24 months against a maximum five years, citing his age, lack of prior convictions and cooperation.
- FINMA said in 2024 it had confiscated 12.7 million francs of unlawfully generated profits from the bank over financial market law and money-laundering breaches.