4 bankers convicted over Swiss account of longtime Putin pal

Four former bankers with the Swiss affiliate of a key Russian bank have been found guilty of failing to properly check accounts opened in the name of a Russian cellist with longtime ties to President Vladimir Putin. The defendants were handed suspended sentences Thursday in Zurich district court that, if violated, could lead collectively to hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs in fines. The verdict follows a one-day trial on March 8 based on information about secret financial flows revealed in the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that implicated musician and Putin’s childhood friend Sergei Roldugin.