Geneva Super-rich Rocked by Luxury Home Burglary Spree

Screenshot taken from this SWI article. | Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva in canton Vaud, is among Swiss areas that have a reputation as a haven for the ultra-rich. Keystone / Cyril Zingaro
SWI: The Lake Geneva region is fighting a growing number of violent home robberies of its wealthiest residents, which threaten the area’s reputation as a haven for the ultra-rich and have inflamed suspicions across the border with France.

Swiss authorities are turning to video footage, number-plate recognition and tougher border policing as they try to crack down on the “homejackings”, which have shocked the normally peaceful area.

The attacks typically involve intruders breaking into occupied homes and threatening residents – sometimes at gunpoint – before escaping with watches, jewellery and other valuables across the border to France.

Private bankers, commodities traders and other wealthy executives are among those who have been targeted, fuelling concern in a region that is home to some of the world’s biggest banks and trading houses. Companies including Pictet and Trafigura have raised concerns about the attacks with authorities, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The extreme violence of the attacks has prompted some politicians to call for targeted checks at the French border and prompted many wealthy communities to hire private security.

“This trend has recently become much more organised, targeted and common,” said Florence Bettschart-Narbel, a member of the legislature in the canton of Vaud, on the north side of Lake Geneva. “We are concerned about the impact on Switzerland’s attractiveness to foreigners and companies.” » | Mercedes Ruehl, Financial Times | Monday, August 17, 2026

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026

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Switzerland’s super-rich: essential contributors or a social threat?: Switzerland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. However, its wealth is distributed very unevenly: the richest 1% own 45% of total assets. At the same time, this elite group contributes a significant share of the country’s tax revenue. Swiss public broadcaster, SRF, takes a closer look. »

”We Need a Wealth Tax on Billionaires.” Here's Why | Aaron Bastani Meets Gabriel Zucman

May 24, 2026 | Introducing a wealth tax on the very richest people in our society has never been more popular amongst the electorate, with recent polls showing 90% approval. This figure is basically unheard of when polling people on any form of policy proposal.

This week's guest, Gabriel Zucman, is a French economist who is a key inspiration for the UK's leading wealth tax advocate and friend of the show, Gary Stevenson.

Iron Will: Australia’s Richest Person Counts the Cost as Court Orders She Share Mining Millions with Rival Family

THE GUARDIAN: Gina Rinehart, who’s been called Australia’s ‘female Donald Trump’, has long fought claims from the family of her father’s business partner – as well as her own children

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has political connections in the Trump White House and Australia’s parliament. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Australia’s richest person is reeling after a landmark court decision found her company must pay royalties worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a rival mining dynasty.

Gina Rinehart, a multibillionaire with political connections in both the White House and the Australian parliament, has been described by members of the US conservative movement as “a female Donald Trump”. The 72-year-old, who inherited her father’s iron ore empire in Australia’s Pilbara region, has fought multiple claims against the family company Hancock Prospecting that were first launched in 2010.

On Wednesday, in the Western Australian supreme court, Justice Jennifer Smith found that Wright Prospecting was entitled to its claim for a half share of royalties coming from one of the region’s largest projects – Hope Downs.

Hope Downs is a joint venture between Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting and exports about 45m tonnes of iron ore annually from Australia’s north-west each year.

But Hancock Prospecting had a partial victory, with the court rejecting Wright Prospecting’s claim for an equity stake in other mining assets.

The dispute harks back to a business partnership struck in the 1950s by mining prospectors Lang Hancock and Peter Wright. The pair had been school friends and together established a company called Hanwright which was responsible for pegging out vast tenements of iron ore-rich deposits in the region’s Hamersley Range. » | Sarah Martin | Saturday, April 18, 2026

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Wealth, Privilege, and Responsibility - The World of the Superrich | DW Documentary

Dec 31, 2024 | While the German economy navigates troubled waters, the lives of the rich continue on unaffected. This film takes a look into the largely closed-off world of the country's millionaires and billionaires - and at how the wealthy see themselves and their privileged lifestyles.

We talk to the CEO of a luxury watchmaker who says German industry suffers from overregulation, with insufficient rewards for taking risks. A well-off building contractor from Dusseldorf, on the other hand, explains how most of the country's millionaires acquire their wealth not from entrepreneurship, but from inheritance. He wants to see a drastic rise in tax rates for the rich, and the proceeds invested where they're needed, e.g. in infrastructure and education.

This documentary also shows life at the Salem boarding school, where the wealthy pay tens of thousands of euros a year to send their children to school. For many, their education includes learning to take on the responsibility involved in later running their family-run businesses.

The superrich live longer and enjoy special tax benefits. The suspension of a wealth tax in 1997 has reportedly cost the German state €380 billion in lost revenues. With the country facing a financial crisis, will its most prosperous individuals live up to their responsibilities that come with privileged financial power?

Trump’s Victory Adds Record $64bn to Wealth of Richest Top 10

THE GUARDIAN: Share surge increases Elon Musk’s fortune by $26bn in a day as Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin and Bill Gates also benefit

The wealth of the 10 richest people in the world – a list dominated by US tech billionaires – increased by a record amount after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, according to a widely cited index.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated that the world’s 10 wealthiest people gained nearly $64bn (about £49.5bn) on Wednesday, the largest daily increase since the index began in 2012.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, registered the largest increase with a $26.5bn addition to his fortune, which now stands at $290bn. The prominent backer of Trump’s campaign, benefited from a surge in the share price of Tesla, the electric carmaker where he is chief executive and in which he owns a 13% stake.

The gains came as tech business leaders, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook parent Meta, and Apple’s Tim Cook publicly congratulated Trump on his election win. » | Dan Milmo, Global technology editor | Thursday, November 7, 2024

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