Renowned Swiss banker sentenced to a suspended prison term for a bribe worth $100 million

Pierre Mirabaud, a former partner at Swiss private bank Mirabaud & Cie and former chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association, was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison suspended for corruption and money laundering. The sentence was handed down by the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona after Mirabaud admitted to the main facts in the case.

According to Swiss federal prosecutors, between 2000 and 2012, Mirabaud made hundreds of payments to a Kuwaiti government official. The total value of the bribes amounted to 82.3 million Swiss francs, equivalent to approximately $101.7 million. In return, the official allegedly brought the bank business worth $595.2 million.

Mirabaud, 77, said he was aware of the risks associated with these payments. He stepped down from the bank’s management in 2009 but continued to work as a consultant until 2012.

Prosecutors sought a 24-month suspended sentence, citing the defendant’s age, lack of previous convictions and cooperation with investigators. The trial lasted approximately half a day.

The case comes amid broader concerns about the bank’s activities. In 2024, Swiss regulator FINMA confiscated 12.7 million francs in illegally obtained profits and found breaches of financial legislation and anti-money-laundering rules. Mirabaud bank, founded in Geneva in 1819, said at the time that it had cooperated with the authorities and that the case “closes the accounts with the past.”‌