Pierre Mirabaud convicted of $101 million bribery scheme

Pierre Mirabaud, the former president of the Swiss Bankers Association and a retired partner at the private bank Mirabaud & Cie, has been convicted of foreign bribery and aggravated money laundering by Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.

Between 2000 and 2012, Mirabaud orchestrated hundreds of payments totaling approximately 82.3 million Swiss francs (about $101.7 million) to a high-ranking official of Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS). These bribes were intended to secure the management of approximately $595 million to $600 million in assets from the Kuwaiti pension fund for his bank.

Mirabaud received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a two-year probationary period. The court noted his cooperation with authorities, his age, and his lack of a prior criminal record as mitigating factors. He also admitted to the charges through a simplified legal procedure. The Kuwaiti official involved was previously convicted in absentia in Kuwait for corruption and embezzlement before his death in 2022.