## Facts

- T., a Chilean national, ran a major drug operation in Switzerland.
- T. was not a legal resident of Switzerland and had difficulty transferring drug profits to his bank accounts in Chile and Argentina.
- T. recruited R. (defendant), a former cocaine user.
- R. was a Chilean national who held a Swiss residence permit.
- As part of the operation, R. collected packages connected to the scheme.
- R. also made cocaine sales.
- R. transferred profits from the cocaine sales from Switzerland to overseas bank accounts.
- R. knew the money came from drug trafficking and that it would be used to finance T.’s ongoing operation.
- R. was arrested and convicted of violating Swiss federal drug law and a money-laundering provision of the Swiss Penal Code.
- The trial court sentenced R. to a fine, two years in prison, and expulsion from Switzerland for 10 years, with the expulsion suspended for five years.
- R. appealed to a superior penal court, which affirmed the trial court’s judgment.
- R. then appealed to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, arguing (1) that wiring drug money was already punished under the federal drug law and should not also result in a separate money-laundering conviction, and (2) that the sentence was too severe.

## Issues

1. Whether R.’s conduct in transferring drug-sale profits abroad could support a separate conviction for money laundering, or whether that conduct was already sufficiently addressed by Swiss drug-law offenses.
2. Whether R.’s fine, two-year prison sentence, and 10-year expulsion order (suspended for five years) were unlawful or excessive.

## Decision

- The Swiss Federal Supreme Court considered R.’s appeal after the superior penal court affirmed his convictions and sentence.
- Publicly accessible summaries for this docket identify the arguments raised on appeal but do not provide the court’s final disposition or its reasoning; therefore, this brief cannot state whether the Federal Supreme Court affirmed, reversed, or modified the judgment.

## Legal Principles

- Swiss drug-trafficking offenses and Swiss money-laundering offenses can arise from related conduct when drug proceeds are handled after (or alongside) drug distribution activity.
- A common defense argument in proceeds cases is that punishment for moving or remitting drug profits is already accounted for by drug-law provisions, so a separate laundering conviction would amount to duplicative punishment.
- Money-laundering provisions generally focus on dealings with criminal proceeds (including transferring funds) when done with knowledge of their criminal origin and with an effect tied to concealment or interference with asset tracing or confiscation.
- Sentencing review in criminal appeals may include challenges to proportionality and to collateral measures such as expulsion orders for non-citizens.

## Conclusion

R v. Public Prosecutor of the Canton of Vaud involves a Chilean resident in Switzerland who assisted a cocaine operation by collecting packages, making sales, and wiring drug proceeds abroad despite knowing their origin and purpose, and who then challenged both the separate money-laundering conviction theory and the severity of the resulting prison term, fine, and expulsion order on appeal to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.


R v. Public Prosecutor of the Canton of Vaud, No. 6S.59/2003/svc (2003)