Lombard Odier Fined 3 Million Francs in Karimova Case

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has fined Geneva-based private bank Lombard Odier 3 million Swiss francs for inadequate organisational measures to prevent money laundering in a case linked to Gulnara Karimova. The court also ordered the confiscation of assets worth more than 400 million francs. The ruling is not yet legally binding.

A former Lombard Odier employee who handled accounts linked to the “Office” structure was found guilty of aggravated money laundering. The court sentenced him to 24 months in prison, suspended.

According to the court, the employee had information indicating that the funds may have originated from corruption but failed to carry out the necessary checks into their origin and intended use. The charges for which the statute of limitations had not expired concerned deposits of more than US$120 million and withdrawals of more than US$20 million.

The court concluded that Lombard Odier had failed to take all necessary and reasonable organisational measures to prevent illegal transactions by its employee.

The bank plans to appeal the ruling. Lombard Odier disagreed with the court’s findings and said that during the period in question it had an internal control system and anti-money laundering procedures in place. The bank also stressed that its own report of suspicious transactions in 2012 had prompted the investigation.

The court ordered the confiscation of more than 400 million francs in assets that, according to the ruling, had been obtained through money laundering or were controlled by the “Office” structure. The costs of the criminal proceedings amounted to about 2.3 million francs, of which 500,000 francs were assigned to Karimova and are to be deducted from the seized funds.

Swiss proceedings against Gulnara Karimova were discontinued in April 2026 on procedural grounds. The court said she could not travel to Switzerland before the statute of limitations expired because she is serving a sentence in Uzbekistan until December 2028. In January 2026, an Uzbek court finally rejected a request for her participation in the proceedings.

The Swiss court did not consider the charges against Karimova on their merits and did not rule on her guilt. Proceedings against another defendant, who lives in Russia and was described by investigators as her confidant, were also discontinued.

According to the Swiss prosecutor’s office, the “Office” structure was linked to Karimova and was used to move and conceal funds that investigators associated with corruption. Swiss authorities accused her of money laundering, corruption and participation in a criminal organisation, but the charges were not considered on their merits after the proceedings were discontinued.