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This morning, Julius Baer announced an imminent settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), Uncle Sam’s powerful judicial office.
In the FIFA corruption and money laundering case, one has a double-digit million fine, Bär bosses write.
What looks like a success story is, in fact, an indictment of poverty. Bear makers buy US exemption at a cheap price with extensive helpers.
This is demonstrated by the case of Viktor Vekselberg. The Russian oligarch landed on the US sanctions list two years ago in April.
All banks immediately blocked the accounts and custody accounts of the businessman, who partly lives in Switzerland and, together with Sulzer and Oerlikon, owns large industrial stakes in the Alpine country.
Vekselberg, currently in court with Postfinance to open an account, was on dry land.
When the United States banned it, it was in Rome with its board of directors.
In the morning when checking out of the hotel, it was said that your credit card was blocked. The second didn’t work either, the third just as little.
Vekselberg, a billionaire, looked around. Anyone help?
The United States spoke, the banks obeyed. UBS and CS couldn’t avoid being exposed in the US.
And yet both great houses were flexible in the course of the following months.
Not so with Julius Baer. Vekselberg had a loan of about $ 160 million there, with guarantees in the form of securities for more than 450 million.
In the spring of 2018, Julius Baer’s bosses not only blocked all the accounts of his previously trapped main client, but they also quickly applied for the Vekselberg loan after the US sanctions against Vekselberg.
Vekselberg feared losing the best stocks. These are Sberbank securities, which are of strategic importance to Vekselberg.
Bär was not deterred from the forced liquidation plan. A drama for Vekselberg. In dire need, it stopped the liquidation of its shares and bonds, which were deposited in Bär as collateral, by means of a super-provisional decree.
The Zurich commercial court granted it, but demanded a supposed sequencing in favor. This means that Vekselberg and his lawyers had to fight for their rights in the ordinary proceedings, that is, they are no longer super-provisional.
They did so with a lawsuit dated November 12, 2018. In the 60-page legal text they state that Vekselberg is not the direct account holder with Julius Baer.
Vekselberg is “only an indirect beneficiary of the Lamesa Foundation, Panama (…), without property rights”, is the argument.
After the United States blacklisted Vekselberg, the Russian billionaire, through his assistants, gave the bear bankers the order to sell some of the deposited securities with the aim of “initiating a compensation of our indebtedness for a amount of US $ 160 million due under the loan agreement. “
Instead of the Bär-Bank complying with this order, it requested the client Vekselberg to allow the Bär “to obtain permission from the US authorities to sell the securities and to disclose the (…) mentioned securities to the authorities.”
Lamesa Holding complied “(i) n the hope that this will accelerate the payment of its credit debt.”
Failed. “Obviously, this was not enough for the (bank). Despite the permission granted, the (bear) still refused to carry out the instruction. “
The lawsuit has been pending in commercial court for almost two years. Time is running out for Bear. The agreement with the US announced today makes it clear that Bär officials want to be tough on Vekselberg.
A spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday. The nation’s largest private bank has become a trusted assistant to the DOJ.
