Sacked trader's wife brings new charges in Deutsche Bank Moscow scandal

By bne IntelliNews October 22, 2015

Jason Corcoran in Moscow -

The wife of the American trader at the centre of an alleged money-laundering scandal embroiling Deutsche Bank has accused the German lender of illegally accessing information about her own account held at another bank.

Natalia Wiswell, the wife of Tim Wiswell, the former head of Russian equities at Deutsche Bank, has written to the Russian general prosecutor's office alleging that Deutsche ''illegally'' accessed and disseminated details of her personal bank account at Raiffeisen.

Dimtri Agishev, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank in Moscow, declined to comment by phone. Raiffeisen Bank's press service in Moscow did not reply to e-mails seeking comment.

Alexei Shvachkin, a lawyer representing Natalia Wiswell, said the illegal receipt and dissemination of information constituting bank secrecy is regulated by Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Shvachkin said: "My client considers it totally unacceptable, the illegal receipt and disclosure of information relating to her private life.''

The complaint lodged by Ms. Wiswell coincides with her husband's legal claims for wrongful dismissal against his former employer. Deutsche Bank's Moscow office has dismissed his law suit filed in early October as unfounded, and says the bank is continuing its investigations into improper equities trades by members of staff.

Wiswell lost his job earlier this year after 12 years at the bank amid an investigation by US and European regulators into so-called "mirror-trading'' involving about $6bn of transactions over four years.

Investigators are examining trades whereby Russian clients might have bought stocks in rubles via Deutsche Bank, and simultaneously made trades through London in which the bank purchased the same stocks at similar amounts in US dollars. Such transactions could have enabled Russians to move money offshore without telling the authorities.

The scandal has led to the closure of Deutsche Bank's investment banking operation in Moscow and the loss of about 200 jobs.

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