Stolen Identities and Falsified Investment Accounting. Stay Alert!

A Legal Marathon for a Cyclist who knocked down a pedestrian 

A marathon and for good reason – an elderly lady had been killed crossing the street in Monaco. She had been hit by a cyclist as she crossed the street, several metres away from a pedestrian crossing and transported to hospital. She never recovered from a coma and died. Unusually, there were no witnesses nor camera footage to get to the facts. Was the cyclist, a Scandinavian, going too fast; was he riding with due care? He was exonerated in the initial tribunal for lack of evidence of carelessness. The lady had emerged all of a sudden between bikes parked on the pavement and crossed not on a crossing, even though there was one nearby. A pedestrian death is not to be taken lightly and an appeal court found him guilty of not being cautious enough and gave him a suspended prison sentence of 3 months. There were warning signs on the road, calling for caution as there was a pedestrian crossing within 16 metres of the accident. On final appeal to the Highest Court the cyclist was finally re- exonerated. He would have had hardly half a second to react to the sudden appearance of the lady on the road. There was no firm proof provided by the prosecution of carelessness or excessive speed. All was a presumption. And the cyclist was finally proclaimed innocent after an exhausting legal battle over more than a year. 

Day of Reckoning in Court for Stealing a Monegasque’s identity

What a ruse! A Frenchman had a relationship with a Monegasque lady and stole her identity when the relationship ended. He copied all the details of her driving license and other related information. He then had a field day driving two vehicles, not belonging to her, driving at excessive speeds and parking illegally. All in all he committed over 40 traffic offenses over about two years with more than 1500 euros of fines. Artfully, for each offense he mastered the automated response system on the web for dealing with traffic offenses and fines and entered the lady’s details. Eventually any Monegasque who is committing multiple offenses in France can, at the least, be summoned by the Monegasque authorities for an explanation. This is all to avoid dangers on the highway rather than specifically deal with the matter of traffic fines. The lady was at her wits end and thus the Court was invoked when the ruse was uncovered. The Magistrate was not amused. The prosecution proposed the perpetrator receive four months in prison. The Court in the end decided on a 6 month suspended prison sentence. 

Banker Falsifies Investment Reports Thinking to Keep her Client Happy 

A lady banker in Monaco working with a Swiss investment house did not want to disappoint her client. The client relationship was too important to her. She would report on his investments periodically and meet with him typically twice a year. This continued for over 15 years. The client was very satisfied to hear about the gains he was always making. At the point the banker retired her client, who was approaching 90 years old, had investments that had grown to significantly above a million euros. So when his new contact at the bank reported to him that he had less than 20% of the sum he had believed he had accumulated he was in a state of shock. Thus the Court case. It was revealed during the proceedings that the lady had consistently over the years hid the truth from him. In order to avoid revealing the investment losses, she had falsified the accounting year after year. The Court investigated whether the lady had diverted funds for her own use or profited herself from the deception. Had she committed the same “error of judgement” and falsifications with other clients? It appeared not and that the problem was restricted to this one case and that she had not personally benefited. A six month suspended prison sentence was called for and compensation granted to the bank of 10.000 euros and 20.000 euros to the victim.