Facts
The respondent [X.] was employed as the Head of Equity Trading Switzerland at Bank [A. AG] in Zurich at the end of 2000. On 29 December 2000, the last trading day of the year 2000, at the instruction of his superiors, he deliberately drove up the price of the registered shares of company [B.] through targeted measures. As a result, the price was increased from CHF 442 to CHF 490, which corresponded to a price increase of 10.86%. This stock market price was used for the year-end valuation of the [B.] -registered shares in the nostro accounts of the [A.] Group and in the year-end valuations of the portfolios of all bank customers. The prosecuting authorities accused the respondent of having aided and abetted multiple forgery of documents, as he had contributed to an inflated valuation of the [B.] -registered shares through the price increase. However, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich acquitted the respondent.Considerations
The Federal Court upheld the acquittal. It stated that the actions of the respondent did not constitute a criminal manipulation of the share price within the meaning of Art. 161bis SCC, as there were no sham transactions. However, there was also no forgery of documents, as the indication of the stock market prices in the custody account statements and the accounting merely reflected the actually paid price, but did not represent a definitive valuation of the securities. The custody account statement only certifies that the securities were traded at the stated value, but not their intrinsic…