The Bogousslavsky Affair

Lake Geneva's pristine water in Switzerland is renowned for attracting wealthy tourists and investors. But a few years ago a prominent resident made it the splashy backdrop for a spectacular embezzlement case.

On March 12, Julien Bogousslavsky, 55, was found guilty of several charges of fraud including embezzling CHF5.3 million (almost US$7.6 million), according to genevalunch.com, the Lake Geneva regional community newspaper. He awaits sentencing, scheduled to take place in 2010, according to the March 25 article, "L 'Etat reclame advantage" in the Swiss newspaper 24 Heures.

Bogousslavsky was chief of the CHUV Neurology Department, professor at the University of Lausanne's Medical School, and a lieutenant colonel in the Swiss Army before his arrest in late April 2006.

"No one would have imagined that one among us, one renowned for his exceptional proven professional capabilities, would harm to such a significant extent the image of the CHUV [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois] through the embezzlement of funds and could distress the labors of so many co-workers for several months," wrote Bernard Decrauzat, general director of Lausanne's hospital, the CHUV, in its 2006 annual report.