Finance
Swiss bank Safra Sarasin fined 3.5 million francs in 'Car Wash' probe
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Swiss bank J. Safra Sarasin fined 3.5M francs in a Petrobras corruption probe, part of Operation Car Wash, with significant political implications in Brazil.
(adds dropped part of company name in third paragraph)
ZURICH (Reuters) -Switzerland's attorney general has fined Swiss private bank J. Safra Sarasin SA 3.5 million Swiss francs ($4.3 million) under a years-long corruption and money laundering case surrounding Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, it said on Friday.
In a statement, the highest Swiss prosecutors' office said the bank had settled with Petrobras, a claimant in the case, for 16 million francs and that no further compensation payment was therefore due.
Safra Sarasin said the prosecutors' "ordinance does not constitute an admission of guilt or an acceptance of civil or criminal liability on the part of the bank or any of its representatives".
A former Safra Sarasin employee was also sentenced to a suspended custodial sentence of six months for aggravated money laundering acts committed between November 2011 and July 2014 while she was working for another Swiss bank, involving a total amount of $29.2 million, the statement said.
The money laundering that Safra Sarasin failed to take measures against around that time amounted to $71 million, it added.
According to the statement, the probe covered several bank accounts with Safra Sarasin that were used for bribes going to senior executives at Petrobras to promote contracts for about 10 companies in the oil and construction sectors.
The prosecutors opened the investigation in 2019. The case against the sprawling scheme, dubbed "Operation Car Wash", has resulted in the imprisonment of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, among others.
More than 130 politicians and business officials have been convicted in Brazil.
The prosecutors added the fine takes into account various corrective measures that the bank has since taken and that the parties involved have declared that they will not appeal the penalty.
($1 = 0.8078 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Oliver Hirt, editing by Thomas Seythal and Jan Harvey)
J. Safra Sarasin was fined 3.5 million Swiss francs, equivalent to approximately $4.3 million.
The fine was part of a corruption and money laundering case related to the bank's failure to take measures against money laundering activities that amounted to $71 million.
The bank settled with Petrobras for 16 million francs, which meant no further compensation payment was due.
Operation Car Wash is a sprawling corruption investigation in Brazil that has led to the imprisonment of numerous politicians and business officials, including former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
No, the bank stated that the prosecutors' ordinance does not constitute an admission of guilt or acceptance of civil or criminal liability.
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