Dieter Behring (right) enters the court in Bellinzona to hear the verdict
Keystone
Convicted financial fraudster Dieter Behring has been ordered to pay CHF207 million ($208 million) to the victims of his failed investment scheme. Some 1,189 investors had asked the court to award CHF420 million in damages.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch/mga
Last year, Behring was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for fraud and money laundering following the collapse of his scheme in 2004 that lost a total of CHF800 million. The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona has now decided the amount of damages due to hoodwinked investors.
The judge refused to rule on any deposits made after a cut-off date of October 2001 and also referred some applicants to the civil courts to seek damages. He added that private investors had priority over a CHF100 million claim from the Swiss government, which may end up unpaid.
In total, some 2,000 people invested money into Behring’s scheme that promised returns using self-developed financial software to analyse the markets.
Behring’s lawyer said his client would appeal. Behring had previously asked that an “average” double-digit million franc figure, seized from him during the investigation, should be used to compensate investors.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Behring handed stiff prison sentence
This content was published on
Sixty-one-year-old Behring, from Basel, can still appeal the decision. He was accused of abusing the trust of nearly 2,000 investors between September 1998 and October 2004, having promised them windfall returns if they used his self-developed financial software. The software was designed to analyse stock market activity, but the scheme fell through and Behring…
This content was published on
It is the second complaint he has made over people involved in his court case. The 61-year-old Behring has been answering charges at the Bellinzona Federal Criminal Court after his collapsed investment scheme cost clients some CHF800 million ($804 million). He is accused of fraud, qualified money laundering and embezzlement. On Saturday the Attorney General’s…
This content was published on
Behring is accused of fraud, qualified money laundering and embezzlement. Investors flocked to Behring between 1998 and 2004 as his funds generated market beating returns, based on a software programme that he had devised to analyse the stock markets. But things turned sour for the 2,000 investors as the scheme unraveled, leaving many out of…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.