As of: March 7, 2024, 4:56 a.m
By: Moritz Bletzinger
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Susanne T. built her new life in picturesque Lucerne - but not entirely legally.
© Michael Weber/imageBROKER/Imago
Susanne T. emigrated from Germany to Switzerland and led a life of luxury.
But her path to wealth could end in prison.
Lucerne – Suddenly rich.
A German lived the dream of luxury on Lake Maggiore, Lake Lucerne and in Lucerne.
Years later she finds herself in the dock.
Susanne T. led an average life in Germany and trained as a medical assistant.
At the age of 40 she decided on a radical change in life.
Moved to the Swiss Alps and quickly rose to the top of the Fera trading company in Lucerne.
How she achieved this remains a mystery.
Luxury life in the Alps: Germans swindled millions in loans through Swiss companies
It is known that Susanne T. took out loans worth over 400 million francs (416 million euros) between 2002 and 2010, allegedly to invest in machines for the forging press business.
But the millions went mostly into her own pocket while she and her husband lived a luxurious life.
In another case on the other side: A 72-year-old farmer from Ebersberg who fell victim to a loan fraudster.
In 2010, the Zurich bank Skandifinanz discovered the Germans' machinations.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office took over the case and collected 1,550 federal folders full of files over eleven years.
The process began in 2021 when Skandifinanz demanded around 200 million francs back in court, as the
Jungfrau Zeitung
reported.
One of the biggest fraud cases in Switzerland: a woman from Germany faces four years in prison
The charges were serious: commercial fraud, mismanagement, commercial money laundering and forgery of documents in well over 100 cases.
The newspaper
Blick
described it as one of the largest cases of economic crime in Switzerland.
The investigations against Swiss bankers who allegedly hid millions for Vladimir Putin are just as spectacular.
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Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Susanne T. got away relatively unscathed.
Today she is 73 years old and sick.
Due to the length of the proceedings, her sentence was reduced by 50 percent.
She also claimed in court that she only played a minor role in the company.
Public prosecutor's office overwhelmed in Fera case?
German Alpine fraudster could go unpunished
The
Luzerner Zeitung
writes that the “Fera case” has overwhelmed the federal public prosecutor’s office.
Years of investigation “only” resulted in a four-year prison sentence for the millionaire fraudster.
However, the judgment is not yet final.
There is even the possibility that Susanne T. will go completely unpunished.
The lead prosecutor resigned during the investigation and handed over the “Fera case” to a private lawyer.
This functioned as an “extraordinary public prosecutor”, a position that can only be used in investigations against people within the public prosecutor’s office.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is now faced with a major problem.
You would have to undo all procedural steps since the change and start again.
This would take a lot of time and T.'s crimes could become statute-barred in the meantime.
(moe)
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