A former star relationship manager charges the Zurich pure play for millions in restitution and finds a courtroom in Venezuela to agree in his favor. The whole thing is a reminder of a black mark in the bank's recent past.
Matthias Krull was once a much-praised front-line banker for Julius Baer in Latin America. But the Zurich-based pure play fired him in 2018, shortly before he was arrested by American investigators in Miami in connection with the corruption scandal surrounding Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA.
He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison in the US. In the meantime, Krull, a German citizen, has done his time and again roams free - although he seems intent on settling accounts with his once employer.
Piling Interest
According to the German newspaper «Die Zeit» (original language only, paywall) Krull has gone to the labor court of Venezuela to get a decision related to his firing. He seems to have been very successful. According to the publication, the judges in Caracas have now awarded him damages of $4.5 million.
About $200,000 monthly has been tacked on to the award in interest, which was calculated at Venezuela's hyper-inflationary rate of about 58 percent a year.
Second Loss
The German publication maintained that it added up to more than the CEO of the bank had earned, several times over. As an example, recently resigned Julius Baer CEO Philipp Rickenbacher, let go because of the Signa private credit debacle, was paid about 1.72 million francs in 2023 compensation. Julius Baer declined to comment on the article in the newspaper.
As finews.com has since learned, this is the second appeal that international law firm Baker McKenzie, which represents the pure play institution, has lost in court. Indeed, this past January, it was ordered to pay for Krull's trial and legal costs. Despite that, the bank intends to appeal again.
No Transfers
Still, the bank and its former star banker just don't seem to be able to part ways.
At the time, the firing was justified by the fact that the bank wanted to close its Venezuela business, the newspaper maintained. Moreover, finews.ch reported then that Geneva-based institution Gonet had plans to hire him - something that ultimately never panned out.
Finma Proceedings
Julius Baer was never part of the whole US corruption affair. But federal Swiss banking supervisor Finma did hit the bank with sanctions after establishing significant weaknesses in its anti-money laundering framework between 2009 and 2018. The regulatory enforcement action at the time took place in the context of the PDVSA corruption scandal and, as part of it, Julius Baer was prohibited from making significant acquisitions.
An external monitor was also put in place and the bank subsequently implemented an ambitious «Atlas» program aimed at closing its compliance gaps. However, all of that clearly won't help the bank's recent past from catching up with it.
