Millions stolen from Zug company gambled away

A family man embezzled CHF 8.8 million from a company to finance his gambling addiction., He applied in vain for a more lenient sentence from the Federal Court.

For a long time everything went well. For eight years, the trick with the fictitious bills wasn’t detected. In the end, a family man had defrauded his employer, a Zug marketing company, of CHF 8.8 million (!!). He used most of the money for excessive gambling. Although he had been banned from casinos, he couldn’t get a grip on his gambling addiction. The world of online gambling remained open to him – convenient and available around the clock via mobile phone.

The Zug Criminal Court sentenced the man, who lives with his family in a neighbouring canton, to four years in prison and ordered therapy during the trial due to the cases of commercial fraud and multiple forgery of documents. The Zug High Court (Obergericht) upheld the verdict in May 2020, but increased the duration of the sentence by eight months. The accused disagreed. In his appeal to the Federal Court (Bundesgericht), he wanted to avoid a custodial sentence.

No a case of a procurement crime
The family father's main argument: his criminal responsibility had been reduced by his addiction to gambling. A circumstance which, in his view, was not taken into account enough by the Zug High Court. On the basis of an expert opinion, the lower court had concluded that there had been an addiction to gambling, but that it was only moderately pronounced. This was demonstrated, for example, by his planned and considered actions. In addition, it had been surprisingly easy for him to stop playing.

If a court assumes a reduced culpability, it will mitigate the penalty. The Zug High Court judges, however, saw no reason for this. Rightly so, as the Federal Court has now ruled. "The lower court provided a convincing justification as to why it judges the expert opinion to be conclusive, and based its judgement on it," the three judges noted. The Federal Court therefore rejected the accused's claim that he was not able to avoid the acts because of his addiction. There can be no question of a pathological pressure to gamble or some kind of acquisitive crime - similar to a serious drug addiction – the judgment continues. This is all the more true as he was only diagnosed with a moderate gambling addiction, and had functioned normally in his professional and private life for years.

The defendant's criticism of the length of the prison sentence was also not accepted. The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the High Court had given detailed and convincing reasons for the length of the sentence, and dismissed the appeal. The prison sentence of four years and eight months therefore remains, of which the convicted fraudster will have to serve at least two-thirds.

Reference: Federal Court judgment 6B_771/2020 of 9 February 2021