Judgment of the appellant for commercial fraud and multiple debt collection fraud

Facts

The appellant [X.] is accused of having deceived numerous investors about the existence and participation in highly profitable trading programs together with the co-defendants [Y.] and [Z.] from April 2001 to December 2007. He is said to have collected commissions of 5% of the investment volume and to have passed on a portion of it to [Y.] . [Z.] , as an employee and later branch manager of Bank [A. AG] , provided the necessary "banking platform" to deceive the customers.

The Criminal Court of the Canton of Basel-Stadt sentenced [X.] to a custodial sentence of 3½ years for commercial fraud and multiple debt collection fraud. The Court of Appeal of the Canton of Basel-Stadt upheld the first-instance judgment.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court considers the findings of the lower court regarding the fraudulent deception of the investors to be admissible. The lower court assumes that the appellant and the co-defendant [Y.] had erected a veritable edifice of lies by presenting the participation in trading programs as certain, although they actually had no access to such programs. The involvement of Bank [A. AG] as a reputable Swiss bank had lent additional credibility to the transactions.

The Federal Supreme Court also confirms the conviction for multiple debt collection fraud. The indictment meets the requirements of the accusation…