Swiss Bank Says 5 Embezzled $3.4 Million

Swiss Bank Corp., Switzerland’s third-biggest bank, said it fired five employees in Geneva a few weeks ago in its foreign exchange department for embezzling about $3.4 million. Spokesman Cedric Dietschy said some of the employees were currency traders, while others were managers in the department. They stole commission income from currency transactions in the last two months and deposited the money into accounts held at the bank, he said. Dietschy confirmed a newspaper report that one of the five employees has died since the firings, adding that police suspect that the employee, who was not named, committed suicide. An undisclosed amount of the embezzled money has been recovered from the bank accounts, Dietschy said, and Swiss Bank is investigating whether more money was deposited elsewhere. Swiss Bank has filed charges against some of the employees it fired, Dietschy said, but he declined to elaborate.