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Berenberg's management appears to have been dazzled by Eddie: before inking the Wifog pact, representatives of the two firms met in Stockholm. A Swedish tax lawyer was also present at the meeting to represent Eddie's clients. Berenberg didn't suspect anything was amiss.

Reason for Alarm

To be sure, Berenberg's compliance experts has reason to be suspicious after catching Eddie in an errant transaction of client money. The private banker told Berenberg that he had simply made a mistake, which the bank accepted as an explanation.

In fact, Eddie's alleged fraud wasn't the reason that the finally left Berenberg at the end of 2016. The scheme wasn't discovered until several clients checked their account and transaction statements after they moved to Aldrin Wealth Management.

Criminal Complaint

Aldrin filed criminal charges in Geneva, while Berenberg still hoped for a quiet settlement. But Eddie fled for Sweden and refused to answer Berenberg's questions. This spring, the bank finally lodged a criminal complaint.

How was the 48-year-old son of a diplomat was likely able to pursue his fraudulent scheme for years, with millions of Swiss francs from client transactions, without being detected? Some funds were deposited in insurance wrappers at Berenberg.

Undeclared Money

Many of these funds were undeclared money managed as life insurance policies. This meant that the private banking client was, in fact, a client of the insurer selling the wrapper – in this case British firms Friends Provident and Premium Life. This added another layer of complexity and opacity to Eddie's transactions. 

Berenberg Switzerland prided itself on an extremely discreet culture, only for the bank to now be exposed as involved with undeclared money and insurance wrappers.

Unpaid Policies

Clients are frustrated at being stymied: they can only get at information via the life insurers behind the policies. But the insurers are blocking such efforts, arguing that clients didn't pay their premiums – presumably because Eddie failed to do so.

Aldrin Wealth Management, where the 48-year-old worked briefly after Berenberg, told one letter via letter last week that he hadn't been a bank client, but one of Premium Life Insurance. Aldrin said it would decline to further communicate with the client. Eddie himself didn't respond to queries from finews.com. The banker has erased his LinkedIn profile and other digital tracks.