The wealth giant is bulking up its defense in a key French criminal trial. UBS will hand over primary responsibility for its defense to a heavyweight French lawyer – and enlist a well-known Swiss veteran.
As UBS heads into a June appeal of a $5 billion fine in a French criminal verdict last year, the bank is making subtle changes to its defense plan. The most notable is the hire of Hervé Temime as its lead counsel in France. Temime is one of France's highest-profile criminal defense lawyers.
The Swiss-based bank is marshaling more star power for the appeal, which represents its biggest open wound at the moment. Temime, who represented director Roman Polanski when he was arrested in Switzerland in 2009 for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, will coordinate the defense alongside UBS' existing counsel, Denis Chemla of Allen & Overy.
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The seemingly subtle change, first reported by Swiss «Handelszeitung» (behind paywall, in German), may signal a shift in strategy for UBS' defense. The bank's leadership was denied backing last year by shareholders because of the setback and is preparing to be grilled again this year.
Separately, UBS is enlisting Peter Nobel (pictured above; Image: Keystone), a 75-year-old doyen of Swiss law. Nobel is advising UBS on a 2004 European Union savings tax directive which is poised to play a key role in the appeal. Last month, it emerged that UBS also being advised by former German finance minister Theo Waigel, who helped craft the EU guideline.
