16.5 million francs in debt Entrepreneur pretends to be needy - and lives in luxury

A man in the canton of Bern has been living the high life for over 20 years. In the process, he swindled millions through a fraudulent scam. He owes 16.5 million francs to the canton, city and federal government.

An entrepreneur from Bern did not pay taxes for over 20 years, despite earning millions with his temporary office. He pretended to be a penniless pensioner and received supplementary benefits and later social assistance after his retirement at the age of 63.

It was not until the summer of 2022 that the canton of Bern filed a complaint, which led to a house search. The authorities discovered luxury items in the apartment shared by the man and his ex-wife.

Luxury goods found during house search

For example: 20 luxury watches from brands such as Audemars Piguet, Chopard, Hublot and Omega. 19 furs and fur coats, 214 handbags, travel bags and purses from luxury brands such as Chanel, Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Prada, 63 cases of wine and 69 individual bottles of wine and champagne, some with illustrious names such as Château Mouton Rothschild, 21 gold vreneli and more

The authorities also made a find in the garage. They confiscated three cars - a VW Golf Highline, a Porsche 911 Turbo and a Porsche Cayenne Turbo - with a total value of around CHF 400,000. In addition, five of the man's bank accounts with a total balance of over one million francs were frozen, as well as three of the ex-wife's accounts containing over 400,000 francs.

16.5 million francs in debt to the canton, city and federal government

The entrepreneur and his ex-wife are now standing before the Bernese Commercial Criminal Court. Both are charged with multiple counts of seizure fraud and fraud. According to the indictment, the man owes the federal government, the canton and the city of Bern a total of CHF 16.5 million. He is also accused of forging documents, as he falsified expired parking cards for disabled people and used them for himself.

The now 76-year-old appears in the courtroom as a gaunt man with striking facial features, his thin hair carefully combed back. He began his career as a tinsmith before entering the recruitment business in 1985.

He had not paid any taxes since 1999, which he justified with an allegedly unjust tax assessment. When asked by the court why he had not lodged a legal appeal, the man had no convincing answer.

The investigations also revealed that he had moved over three million francs to Liechtenstein in 2000 and set up a foundation called Abendstimmung, presumably to hide his assets.

The authorities were already on the trail of the fraudster in 2006

Divorcing his wife also appears to have been part of his tax avoidance plan. Although the couple lived together again after a few years, valuables such as the luxury cars were transferred to the ex-wife, who had no tax debts.

The man had already been convicted of seizure fraud in 2006, but this did not stop his further actions. In 2011, he applied for supplementary benefits and also received social assistance from 2020.

His attempt to drastically reduce his tax debts with a "deal of the century" finally brought him down. He offered to buy off his debt of CHF 8.7 million from the tax authorities for just CHF 25,000.

After the city of Bern vetoed the deal, an investigation began that uncovered numerous inconsistencies. It emerged that the man had purchased a total of 130 gold bars worth 1.6 million francs in 2020, which have still not been found.

The verdict in the case of the man and his ex-wife is expected on Thursday.