This content was published on March 10, 2025 - 15:44
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UBS Europe, which absorbed the French branch, was also ordered to pay 50,000 in damages to Nicolas Forissier, the former head of internal auditing.
However, the bank was acquitted of witness tampering and obstructing the health, safety and working conditions committee.
According to Forissier’s lawyer, William Bourdon, this is the first time in France that a whistleblower has obtained a conviction against his former employer.
Although the amount of the fine “seems a little derisory […] we are happy and proud of this decision”, said Bourdon. “It is also a powerful message to the whistleblowers of tomorrow, who must see this decision as a deterrent”.
At the hearing, the public prosecutor had requested a maximum fine of 225,000 for the three offences.
The branch’s defence pleaded for acquittal, calling for the debate to be “dispassionate”.
In the main case, UBS France was definitively acquitted in 2021 for complicity in laundering tax fraud, but fined 1.875 million for complicity in illegal canvassing.
However, the case against the parent company, UBS AG, continues.
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