UK Court Clears Extradition of Former Meinl Bank CEO Peter Weinzierl to U.S. on Money Laundering Charges

Peter Weinzierl, the former chief executive of Austrian lender Meinl Bank, can be extradited to the United States to face charges of money laundering tied to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, London’s High Court has ruled.

Weinzierl, 59, is accused of facilitating the laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars through a complex scheme that allegedly involved the use of slush funds to bribe public officials. The Austrian national has consistently denied the allegations and mounted a multi-faceted legal battle against extradition, claiming among other things that he had been "lured" to the UK in May 2021 by an individual he alleged was acting as a U.S. law enforcement agent, with the purpose of securing his arrest.

Despite these arguments, Weinzierl’s initial challenge to his extradition was dismissed in June 2023. His subsequent appeal was mostly rejected in February of this year, with the High Court ruling that extradition could proceed on all but one charge — specifically, conspiracy to commit money laundering.

On Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Johnson delivered a final blow to Weinzierl’s legal efforts in the UK, ruling that his case did not raise a point of law of general public importance, effectively shutting down any opportunity to take the matter to the UK Supreme Court.

Weinzierl’s legal counsel, David Pack, expressed disappointment with the ruling. “The judiciary have missed an opportunity to provide certainty on UK-U.S. extradition law,” he said in a statement.

The charges against Weinzierl stem from his alleged involvement in a sweeping fraud and bribery operation orchestrated by Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction conglomerate that, in the wake of its scandal, rebranded in 2020 as Novonor SA. The company’s name had become nearly synonymous with corruption after a series of explosive revelations.

Odebrecht admitted in 2016 that it had paid bribes to officials across Latin America in exchange for lucrative public contracts, fueling the expansion of its infrastructure empire. That year, the company and its affiliate, Braskem — Brazil’s largest petrochemical producer — reached a settlement agreement with authorities in the United States, Brazil, and Switzerland. The two firms agreed to pay a combined total of at least $3.5 billion to resolve the charges.

Weinzierl, who previously led Meinl Bank — later renamed Anglo Austrian AAB Bank — is now expected to face prosecution in New York over his alleged role in the international money laundering conspiracy.

By fLEXI tEAM