Facts
The case concerns an individual, A., who was convicted of money laundering, fraud, and forgery by the Basel-Stadt criminal court. The court also ruled that various assets were confiscated. A. filed an appeal against this decision, requesting the annulment of the money laundering conviction and the referral of the case to the lower court for a new trial.
The facts of the case are as follows: C. carried out exchange transactions with IC SA, exchanging Italian lira for Swiss francs. A. and B., who worked for IC, provided C. with advances to finance these transactions. C. then used these advances to buy Italian lira on the Basel market and resold them to IC at a loss. The court considered that C. had committed criminal acts to obtain the Italian lira and that A. had been aware of these criminal acts.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether money laundering can involve assets that were acquired illegally and were exchanged for another currency. The Court considered that money laundering is only possible with assets that were acquired directly through a criminal act, and not with assets that were acquired indirectly through another transaction.
The Court also examined the issue of asset confiscation. It considered that cantonal regulations on confiscation or seizure for the benefit of all creditors or certain ones only are contrary to federal law. The Court also considered…