Gulnara Karimova, the globetrotting former billionaire socialite and daughter of ex-Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, has been indicted in Switzerland on charges of heading an international crime syndicate.
Karimova, 51, who has been imprisoned in Tashkent since 2014, is accused of having plundered hundreds of millions of dollars from Uzbekistan and systematically bribing corporate executives and government officials around the world. She is also accused of having laundered ill-gotten gains through an array of companies and bank accounts centred in Switzerland.
Swiss prosecutors filed a case against Karimova — who for years travelled the world as a UN diplomat, with immunity from prosecution, promoting her fashion brands and hobnobbing with celebrities — in the Swiss Federal Criminal court in Bellinzona on Thursday afternoon.
Read the full story on the Financial Times here.