In Geneva, Rue du Rhône is a little like Paris's Place Vendôme and the Champs-Elysées combined. Here, a stone's throw from Lake Geneva, everything is luxury, calm and discretion. At number 4, you'll find the headquarters of REYL, a bank known in part for having managed the hidden funds of former French budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac. In April 2023, the bank was also fined €5.75 million by a French court after admitting its involvement in a tax fraud laundering scheme. A few weeks after this judicial penalty – on June 28 to be precise – the directors of REYL welcomed a prestigious client in the strictest confidence: Albert II, the prince of Monaco.

What was he doing in Geneva, escorted not only by French and Swiss lawyers, but also by his chamberlain, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Luc Carcenac, and the man who had just succeeded Claude Palmero as the administrator of the princely family's estate, Salim Zeghdar? These were serious times. Since Palmero's unexpected dismissal three weeks before, he and Albert II had communicated only via lawyers. His Serene Highness (HSH) was anything but serene. He knew the extent to which Palmero – his accountant, wealth manager, and confidant for almost two decades – was privy to all the princely family's secrets.

The prince must also have known that his former advisor left the palace with a number of sensitive documents. These include five notebooks in which he recorded hundreds of interviews with Albert II over the years, since his ascension in 2005. And that's not all: The chartered accountant turned pariah remained a frontman for the prince and his sisters in a myriad of companies used for various financial and real estate transactions. The scheme had been designed to shelter the Grimaldi family fortune. In short, the deposed accountant still had his hands on the crown's assets, so there was an urgent need to put an end to this anomaly. Hence the meeting in Geneva between the prince, his advisors and Palmero's lawyers, led by Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard. REYL granted Albert II a privilege: He was the only person to have a safe deposit box at the bank's headquarters, which has no vault. That day, in a chilly atmosphere, Canu-Bernard handed over the keys.

Swiss-Panamanian network

The prince wanted to regain control of a series of offshore companies based in Panama and the British Virgin Islands, two tax havens. All of them held accounts at Geneva's REYL bank. Even before Palmero's appointment as asset manager, the Swiss-Panamanian network had been designed to shelter some €250 million – a substantial part of Albert's fortune – from prying eyes. The efficient accountant strengthened and improved the system.

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