This much is clear: That night things got really busy.

From June 11th to 12th, 2014, Pierin Vincenz stayed at the Hotel Park Hyatt in Zurich.

The stay ended with a bill for 3778 francs.

The stately sum did not come about through the excessive consumption of champagne and caviar, but through the repair costs for damaged walls, carpets, beds, pillowcases, bath towels and other inventory that broke on that wild night.

Such escapades are known from befuddled rock stars.

But Pierin Vincenz belongs to a completely different professional group: the Swiss was a bank manager.

From 1999 to 2015 he led Raiffeisen Switzerland, the country's third-largest banking group.

He was considered a down-to-earth model manager - until his deep fall.

John Knight

Correspondent for politics and economy in Switzerland.

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That night at the Hyatt, Vincenz wasn't alone.

With him in room 507 was a young woman whom Vincenz had probably met at the King's Club.

She worked as a dancer in this strip club in Zurich's old town at least until spring 2013.

Vincenz was a popular and often seen guest there.

In any case, the married bank boss and the dancer got into a heated argument during their tryst in the summer of 2014, during which the hotel room was partially devastated.

Vincenz covered the repair costs with a company credit card.

So he made Raiffeisen pay for it.

The secret star in the Swiss banking sky

All this and much more outrageous things are in the 364-page indictment by the Zurich public prosecutor's office, which accuses Vincenz and his long-time business partner Beat Stocker of commercial fraud, embezzlement, forgery of documents and passive bribery. The trial, which will not take place in the Zurich district court due to the huge public interest, will begin next Tuesday, but in the theater of the nearby Volkshaus.

The Public Prosecutor's Office III of the Canton of Zurich, which specializes in white-collar crime, has been investigating for three years and has collected 550 folders of material for the largest Swiss economic process since the legal processing of the Swissair bankruptcy. Prosecutors are demanding six years in prison for Vincenz and Stocker. It's not just about suspected expense fraud. Rather, they accuse the two defendants of having secretly invested in companies in which Raiffeisen later became involved, albeit at significantly higher prices. They are said to have unlawfully pocketed personal gains of 25 million francs. Vincenz and Stocker would have to pay back this money if they were convicted.

Vincenz, now 65 years old, was once the secret star of the Swiss banking sky.

With his jovial, down-to-earth and humorous manner, the beefy Bündner was the counter-model to the slick investment bankers on Zurich's Paradeplatz.

This made him the darling of the media, on whose keyboard the charismatic man-catcher knew how to play perfectly.

His appearance in the satirical show by the Swiss comedians Viktor Giacobbo and Mike Müller in May 2014 is unforgettable. When asked whether it was true that he, Vincenz, originally wanted to be a show host, Vincenz confirmed with a shrug: “The image of us bankers is up today The level of you comedians, so no problem.” Whoops and huge applause from the audience.

Penalty double play 

In addition, the doctorate in business administration was initially quite successful as head of the Raiffeisen Group.

Gripping and full of energy, he woke up the sleepy farmer's bench.

In accordance with his life motto "Give a boost!", he drove the cooperative banks scattered throughout the country to vehemently push the real estate loan business.

And that was also successful.

Because of the large wheel that it turns in the mortgage business - here the group has a market share of 17 percent with loans of 193 billion francs -, Raiffeisen is now one of the five "systemically important" banks in Switzerland.