Swiss wealth manager Lombard Odier has been charged with money laundering

Lombard Odier, one of Switzerland’s oldest private banks, was charged by Swiss prosecutors with aggravated money laundering.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, or OAG, said in a statement on Friday that it filed charges against Lombard Odier and the former bank employee at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court on Tuesday.

The OAG said the defendant helped hide income from a criminal organization created by Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Islam Karimova, the authoritarian president of Uzbekistan, who died of a stroke in 2016. The General Prosecutor indicted Karimov in 2023. money laundering resulting from criminal activities in Switzerland between 2005 and 2012.

“As a result of the OAG’s investigation, it was believed that some of the money laundered in Switzerland may have been transferred to the bank accounts of…Lombard Odier in Geneva. The bank and one of its former relationship managers are alleged to have played a critical role in concealing the proceeds from ‘The Office’ criminal activities,” the OAG said in a statement.

They have been under investigation since 2016, prosecutors added.

Lombard Odier, whose origins date back to 1796, denies the allegations.

“We have taken into account the decision of the Swiss General Prosecutor’s Office to charge the bank with insufficient controls,” the bank said in a statement released on Friday.

“This step follows the initiation of a formal investigation against the bank that was launched and made public in 2016. The bank finds the accusations baseless and unfounded. The bank plans to vigorously defend itself.”

The bank said the case was initiated by Lombard Odier’s “proactive reporting of suspicions to the Swiss authorities”.

CNBC has reached out to Grégoire Manget, who has represented Karimov throughout her legal battles with Swiss authorities. Karimova is currently serving a prison sentence in Uzbekistan.