Tidjane Thiam, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, recently announced on his Instagram account his intention to appeal the acquittal of his former housekeeper for attempted coercion. According to Thiam, the decision made by the Meilen district court is incorrect.
The district court in Meilen acquitted Thiam’s former housekeeper on Tuesday, ruling that the email she sent demanding a significant sum of money was not considered coercion.
In a post shared on Thursday and picked up by several German-speaking media outlets on Saturday, Thiam expressed his disagreement with the court’s decision. He stated, “This week, despite the evidence presented in the case, the Court decided to acquit the former employee in a judgment that, in my opinion, is incorrect and will be appealed.”
The former housekeeper, a 43-year-old Romanian, worked at Thiam’s villa in Herrliberg (ZH). She was asking for 587,000 Swiss francs to settle their dispute, threatening to inform unions and the International Olympic Committee, of which Thiam was a member at the time, if he did not pay. Thiam did not comply and instead reported the matter to the police.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office considered the email to be an attempted coercion and extortion. They had requested a sentence of 7 months of suspended prison time and a fine of 1200 francs.
However, the judge justified the acquittal by stating that coercion involves a serious threat of harm. The judge also noted Thiam’s previous negative publicity after ordering the surveillance of senior executives at the bank. It was deemed unlikely that he would then pay over half a million francs to a housekeeper simply because she could have exposed the poor working conditions she faced while working for the banker.
Thiam’s decision to appeal the acquittal indicates his determination to pursue justice in this matter. The legal battle between Thiam and his former housekeeper continues, highlighting the complexities of the case and the differing perspectives on the email’s intent. As the case unfolds, the outcome of the appeal will shed further light on the legal implications of the situation and the responsibilities of employers towards their employees.
