Two former directors of a bank’s brokerage division have been charged over investments which prosecutors allege operated like a pyramid scheme. RMF24 reports that an indictment prepared by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Łódź has been submitted to Warsaw’s Regional Court. The charges concern 1,308 clients and more than PLN 387.6 million. Both defendants deny the charges.
The case covers 2012–2015 and forms one strand of an investigation led by prosecutors in Łódź and the Poznań branch of Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). Certificates in four investment funds were sold through bank branches across Poland. The indictment centres on how the products were approved for distribution and what clients were told about them.
Prosecutors: redemptions depended on new investors’ payments
According to prosecutors, the former directors authorised the sale of the certificates without examining the products, including their promotional materials, investment policies and underlying assets. Investigators also allege that clients were not told about a significant condition affecting withdrawals while the investment portfolio was being built: the ability to redeem certificates allegedly depended on further certificate sales.
Prosecution spokesperson Krzysztof Kopania, quoted by RMF24, said the money for redemptions was to come from payments by subsequent investors rather than profits generated by the funds. Kopania described this mechanism as consistent with the operation of a pyramid scheme. That is the prosecution’s assessment, not a court finding: the filing of an indictment does not establish either man’s guilt.
PLN 387.6m in the charges, around PLN 136m in losses
According to the prosecutor quoted by RMF24, Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) ordered all four funds to be liquidated in 2017. RMF24 reports that, following their liquidation in August 2025, investors who had bought certificates through the bank recovered only part of their money. Their combined losses amounted to around PLN 136 million.
That figure should not be confused with the more than PLN 387.6 million covered by the charges. The first represents losses after some funds were recovered; the second is the amount cited by prosecutors in the indictment. The distinction matters when assessing the financial scale of the case.
Kopania also said that assets belonging to the defendants, mainly property, worth around PLN 8.6 million had been secured. This does not mean that the money has been paid to those affected. Both former directors denied the charges during the investigation, according to RMF24; the court will determine their criminal responsibility.
