Money Laundering in Switzerland: Analysis and Some Observations

Article 305bis includes the obstruction of the confiscation of illicit proceeds as a money laundering offense. In a judgment delivered in September 1993, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court held that a trustee, who received assets under suspicious circumstances and invested these assets in financial markets, had obstructed their confiscation. The trustee who is considered to be a professional engaged in offering financial services not only carried out typical laundering operations (“smurfing” the assets to avoid the transactions being reported and placing them through intermediaries in a number of financial institutions) but also breached Article 305ter by not verifying the identity of the beneficial owner... [more]