UBS Data Thief Headed for Prison

An appeal by a former UBS banker who was convicted in absentia of espionage was denied by Switzerland’s highest court.

The banker, only known as Rene S. was convicted of selling the data of wealth clients to tax authorities in Germany, and sentenced to 40 months in prison and fines and court costs of over 125,000 Swiss francs.

In 2020, the verdict was upheld by an appeals court, and was again by the Swiss Federal Court, dismissing an argument that the lower appeals court did not correctly conduct the proceedings.

At the heart of the case was the accusation that Rene S. pocketed 1.1 million euros ($1.14 million) from the sale of the documents and moved to a small town in Germany near the Swiss border.

Swiss banks have paid billions in settlements related to charges they made it possible to wealthy foreigners to hide their wealth.

Earlier this week, an attempt to change Swiss banking secrecy laws to exempt whistleblowers and journalists was blocked by lawmakers