Ex-Credit Suisse CEO appeals ex-housekeeper’s acquittal in coercion case

Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam. Keystone / Alexandra Wey

Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam has announced on Instagram that he will appeal against the acquittal of his former housekeeper, stating that he believes the judgement was incorrect.

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On Tuesday, the Meilen District Court acquitted Thiam’s former housekeeper of the charge of coercion. The woman had sent an email to Thiam demanding CHF 587,000 ($676,106), offering to settle their differences. She implied that, failing this, she would inform trade unions and the International Olympic Committee, of which Thiam was a member at the time.

Thiam wrote on Instagram that he had been implicitly threatened with damage to his reputation in connection with the demand for a substantial sum of money. Despite the evidence presented, the court acquitted his former employee.

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Working conditions as the trigger

The judge justified the acquittal by explaining that coercion requires the threat of a serious disadvantage. She noted that the banker had previously received “bad press” for surveilling two top managers.

According to the judge, it was unlikely that the potential revelation of poor working conditions in his private life would have compelled Thiam to pay over half a million francs to a domestic worker.

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The 43-year-old Romanian woman had worked for Thiam as a domestic worker for around six years, initially in London and later, at his request, from 2015 in Switzerland, where Thiam was CEO of Credit Suisse until 2020. In court, the woman spoke of miserable working conditions and unfulfilled agreements.

Adapted from German by DeepL/amva

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