Optima Bank fraud trial: former CEO fined 400,000 euros
Former Optima Bank CEO Jeroen Piqueur has been sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term, a fine of 400,000 euros, the forfeiture of 4.3 million euros and a 10-year ban on holding certain professional positions. The ruling was handed down by Ghent Criminal Court on Tuesday following a major fraud trial.
The court said Piqueur had “acted for personal financial gain”, had a “dishonest mindset” and had behaved in a manner “that undermines the economic climate”.
Optima went bankrupt in June 2016 and Piqueur and his son and daughter were arrested by the investigating judge in December 2017. Piqueur was charged with misappropriation of company assets, money laundering offences, fraudulent insolvency and breaches of banking legislation.
According to investigators, 100 million euros had been siphoned off from the Belgian bank via offshore structures in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
"Optima was a cash cow to extract as much money as possible"
A number of former Optima executives, including former minister Luc Van den Bossche, were also prosecuted. He was CEO of Optima Bank from 2011 to 2015 and subsequently became chair of the property company Optima Global Estate.
The public prosecutor’s office ultimately requested that 12 suspects, including two companies, be referred to the criminal court.
“Optima was a cash cow to extract as much money as possible. It was never enough for Jeroen Piqueur,” the public prosecutor said. “The case surrounding Optima Bank is a story of self-enrichment that goes back a very long way.”
The public prosecutor’s office had sought a five-year prison sentence, a fine of 250,000 euros, a 10-year ban on practising his profession and a confiscation order of 32.8 million euros, while Piqueur’s lawyer requested an acquittal.
Van den Bossche has been fined 3,000 euros, with the sentence suspended in full. The prosecution had sought a six-month suspended prison sentence, but the court found him guilty only of the unlawful practice of estate agency.
#FlandersNewsService | Jeroen Piqueur during the judgment in the Optima Bank case, 31 March 2026 © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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