Zug fraud trial postponed
Published: Monday, Feb 19th 2024, 10:20
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The fraud trial before the Zug High Court scheduled for this week has been postponed. The reason is a death in the family of one of the three accused persons.
At the start of the trial on Monday morning in the Burgbachsaal, the lawyer of an accused stockbroker explained that his client's father had passed away. His client was therefore unable to attend the trial.
The accused had not yet made any statements in the proceedings, but he insisted on attending the appeal trial, which was scheduled to last five days. After a brief deliberation, the High Court therefore decided not to dispense with the accused. It ruled out splitting the proceedings at this stage.
The public prosecutor's office had argued that the main hearing should continue despite the death, possibly even in the absence of the accused. According to the High Court, a new trial date will be announced "soon".
A big case
The appeal proceedings concern what is believed to be one of the biggest cases of fraud in the canton of Zug. According to the public prosecutor's office, the damages amount to CHF 55 million.
The criminal court of first instance had sentenced the main defendant to six and a half years' imprisonment for commercial fraud and forgery of documents. The now 51-year-old Hungarian had founded the pharmaceutical company Amvac, based in Hünenberg ZG, in 2005 and was its CEO and member of the board of directors.
According to the indictment, the accused decided to exit the unsuccessful and bankrupt company in 2012 and had her worthless Amvac shares sold to almost a thousand inexperienced investors by 2015. The sale was allegedly carried out by the two co-defendants with the help of aggressive and unfair telephone marketing.
The two share brokers, two Swiss nationals aged 51 and 36 respectively, were sentenced by the court of first instance to four years' and six months' imprisonment for aiding and abetting commercial fraud and to a three-year prison sentence on a partial condition.
©Keystone/SDA
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