UBS has gathered a team of high-profile and eminent lawyers to fight tax and money-laundering charges in Paris. finews.com profiles the all-star line-up.
The criminal trial began Monday in Paris in a high-stakes trial that could end up costing the world's largest wealth manager a multiple of the 1 billion euro ($1.15 billion) it has already had to pony up in the long-running probe into its activities in France.
The legal team representing Switzerland’s largest bank is headed by the Swiss bank's head lawyer Markus Diethelm, and supported by the crème de la crème of France’s judicial expertise as well as in-house litigation lawyers who have assisted UBS in the tax disputes with the U.S.
Due Process
The hearing in the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris kicked off with UBS repeating its stance that the French state had disregarded due process, and the separation of powers had not been observed, as reported by the news agency «AWP», among others.
Diethelm, who represented UBS a decade ago in its long-running tax dispute with U.S. state prosecutors, is now tasked with again protecting his, and the bank’s, reputation.
Amongst the eminent lawyers representing UBS are Jean Veil (pictured below), well known in the French high society and the son of Simone Veil, a survivor of the Holocaust and a former French cabinet minister, and one of only five women to be buried in the Panthéon in Paris.
Diethelm’s team is well acquainted with representing prominent companies and individuals, and Veil has defended amongst others Jérôme Cahuzac, ex-finance minister in the French government and a convicted tax fraudster, as well as the former head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, who won a case against a French magazine for publishing pictures of her bathing topless.
Political Connections
The portly lawyer also represented the French bank Société Générale in the its proceedings against rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel.
Alongside his reputation as a legal superstar, Veil could also help UBS through his connections with the French political elite. The bank has often described the process as «highly political».
As a former president of elite Parisian club Le Siècle, Veil is well connected to politicians who have lobbied against UBS in the past. This elite French club counts not only leading business figures amongst its members, but also former presidents and cabinet ministers.
Boosting Manpower
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