A former wealth manager of Credit Suisse was released from prison, having served less than a fifth of his five-year prison sentence he was convicted to a year ago for operating a fraud scheme.

Patrice Lescaudron was freed on November 30, 2018, after a request to a Geneva appeals court, according to a report by «Bloomberg». He served ten months of his 5-year sentence, in addition to the two years he spent in pre-trial detention, the news organization said.

The Geneva court in coming days will deal with an appeal against the earlier verdict. Lescaudron was convicted for operating a scheme that allowed him to make unauthorized trades and for falsifying purchase orders to cover up mounting losses in client portfolios.

Sufficient Punishment

In the appeal against the verdict, Lescaudron’s lawyer argued that his client had been sufficiently punished by the combination of a lengthy prison sentence, pre-trial detention plus the financial problems he now faced. Lescaudron was sentenced in February.

The citizen of France pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial on charges of fraud, forgery of document and corporate fraud. He stood accused of cheating Bidzina Ivanishvili, an oil magnate and former prime minister of Georgia, out of more than 100 million Swiss francs ($103 million).

Bank's Role Contested

Credit Suisse had made it clear that Lescaudron had acted alone, while the claimants in the case accused the bank of having neglected to properly monitor the employee. They failed however in the quest to draw Credit Suisse into the trial.