But no formal errors in the trial against German financial juggler
Published: Thursday, Mar 21st 2024, 16:40
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The trial against the German former billionaire and fund manager Florian Homm before the Federal Criminal Court was lawful. In the opinion of the Federal Supreme Court, the court in Bellinzona did not commit any formal errors.
The annulment of the conviction due to an improper summons was therefore not justified, the Federal Supreme Court stated in a ruling published on Thursday. The appeal by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland was upheld and the judges in Bellinzona were asked to resume the ordinary appeal proceedings against the judgment handed down on April 23, 2021.
The Appeals Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court annulled the conviction in absentia of the financial juggler and three other defendants in mid-September 2023. It was of the opinion that the summons to the main hearing in January 2021 had not been issued correctly. It therefore ruled that the trial should be repeated.
In the opinion of the Second Criminal Division of the Federal Supreme Court, the lower court did not apply the provisions on proceedings in absentia correctly. The Federal Criminal Court had already established at the opening of the trial on January 26, 2021 that Homm and the other main defendant were not present. The judges then examined the excuses submitted.
Unbelievable apologies
Homm argued that it was difficult to move outside of Germany. The second defendant referred to the chemotherapy he had received at his home in Cyprus.
The judges came to the conclusion that these statements were not convincing. The Federal Supreme Court emphasized that the proceedings in absentia could begin from this finding without the rights of the accused having been violated.
Imprisonment and fines
Homm was found guilty of serious mismanagement and repeated forgery of documents and sentenced by the Federal Criminal Court of First Instance to 36 months in prison, 18 months of which were conditional.
The second defendant, a fiduciary director from Küsnacht ZH, received 42 months unconditional imprisonment for serious money laundering, forgery of documents and fraudulent bankruptcy. The other two defendants received conditional prison sentences and daily rates.
They were accused of concealing the origin of the money that Homm had criminally obtained. In Switzerland, the financial juggler is said to have unjustly enriched himself with 170 million dollars.
Like "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Homm is said to have conducted his business in the same way as the stockbroker portrayed in the US feature film "The Wolf of Wall Street", whose story is based on a true story.
The German financier used a fund management company he founded to cross-sell penny stocks between the various funds managed by the company in order to increase their prices and trading volumes as well as the value of the funds.
The hedge fund managed by Homm had a volume of up to three billion US dollars at times. However, it collapsed in the course of the financial crisis in 2007. In the USA, Homm is alleged to have defrauded investors of the equivalent of 200 million Swiss francs.
(Judgments on cases 7B_573 and 574/2023 and 7B_621, 622 and 623/2023 of February 26, 2024)
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