Daughter of former Uzbek president accused of masterminding $100M crime ring faces Swiss trial in absentia

Gulnara Karimova, daughter of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, is being tried in absentia in a Swiss federal criminal court in Bellinzona on charges of bribery and money laundering tied to a crime ring prosecutors call “The Office.” Swiss prosecutors say Karimova ran the operation with several dozen people and multiple companies, depositing hundreds of millions of dollars “of criminal origin” in Switzerland and abroad between 2005 and 2013 while her father led the country, and she is already serving a 13-year sentence in an Uzbek penal colony for organizing a criminal group, extortion, and embezzlement. Defense lawyer Grégoire Mangeat said by email that Karimova is being prevented from leaving the prison colony to attend the trial and that “we will seek the full and complete acquittal of Gulnara Karimova.”