White-Collar Crime and Compliance

Who’s Who Legal Business Crime

“Superior practice […], outstanding […], excellent […].”

Chambers Europe

“Widely regarded as having a market-leading white-collar crime and investigations practice.”

Chambers Europe

“Exceptional practice with an excellent track record in asset tracing and recovery, internal investigations and US Department of Justice investigations.”

Chambers Europe

“Exhibit exceptional client service and care.”

Chambers Europe

“Excellent to work with and impressive quality of the whole bench.”

Chambers Europe

“Outstanding performance and effective work.”

Practice Group

Schellenberg Wittmer's White-Collar Crime practice is renowned across Switzerland as home to the country's leading litigation partners in the white collar crime legal sector. The firm has extensive experience in the representation of corporations, financial institutions, boards of directors, management and other individuals in connection with government investigations, enforcement actions and white-collar criminal prosecutions by Swiss (cantonal and federal) and foreign authorities.

We also regularly conduct internal investigations in fields such as anti-money laundering, anti-bribery provisions and international sanctions.

Expertise

Experience

Schellenberg Wittmer has considerable experience in providing advice and/or court representation for a wide variety of business crime matters and related fields, including:

  • Compliance programmes arising under regulations related to anti-money laundering, insider dealing, market conduct, anti-corruption, etc.
  • Data protection legislation and disclosure requirements
  • Corporate and directors’ criminal liability
  • Criminal liability in insolvency situations
  • Regulatory proceedings
  • International assistance in criminal and regulatory matters (including exchange of tax information)
  • Actions and proceedings to locate, freeze and recover the proceeds of national and cross-border fraud and other financial crime
  • Representation of victims of fraud and other business-related offences in domestic criminal proceedings
  • White-collar crime defence work before Swiss cantonal and federal authorities and courts at all levels

 

  • Counsel to Credit Suisse in offshore tax evasion investigation launched by US authorities in 2011, and in the subsequent settlement reached between the bank and the US government
  • Lead counsel to one of the world's largest independent commodities trading houses by turnover, Gunvor Group, in a massive criminal investigation against one of its former employees and an accomplice, with parallel internal investigation and active assistance to the client in criminal proceedings
  • Counsel to two major Brazilian conglomerates, Odebrecht and Braskem, in AML proceedings opened by the Office of the Attorney General in Switzerland in the context of the multibillion-dollar Petrobras corruption scandal. This is a landmark case, one of the first and largest corporate criminal liability cases ever settled in Switzerland, reached in close coordination with resolutions in Brazil and the US
  • Lead counsel to a high-profile client in criminal proceedings for tax evasion
  • Counsel to a Country of Eastern Europe, which fell victim to a major fraud during privatisation of the coal-mining industry in North Bohemia at the end of the 1990s. Swiss prosecutors launched a major investigation into the fraud, which involved money laundering and other offences
  • Lead counsel to Stephan Schmidheiny in the ongoing asbestos criminal litigation case in Italy. The client was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Italy at the end of 2014, but is facing new trials in various Italian courts
  • Representation of and assistance to a prominent businessman and his group of companies in relation to criminal investigations in the context of an alleged corruption scheme
  • Representation of a group of companies belonging to a wealthy politically exposed person (PEP); assistance and preparation of a key individual to be deposed before a Swiss magistrate regarding frozen assets
  • Ongoing assistance and representation of leading international banks and leading energy and commodity trading companies

Contact

Partners

Full Team

Awards & Recognitions

The group and leading practitioners are highly ranked among leading law firms across international directories and publications:

  • Chambers Europe in White-Collar Crime & Compliance
  • Legal 500 in French speaking and German speaking Switzerland
  • GIR 100
  • Regional or Boutique Investigations firm 2017 at GIR Awards
  • Highly Commended in Financial Times Innovative Lawyers
  • WWL Switzerland Firm of the Year 2019 and WWL Business Crime Defense and Investigations international guides
  • WWL Switzerland Firm of the Year Business Crime Defense and Investigations
  • Expert Guides
  • Benchmark Litigation Europe

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