In March 2026, the U.S. Treasury Department, through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), identified two prominent figures in the UK polo community, Siri Evjemo‑Nysveen and her husband Alessandro Bazzoni, in connection with alleged money laundering tied to illicit Venezuelan oil sales. Both individuals were associated with MBaer Merchant Bank, a now-defunct Swiss private bank headquartered in Zurich, which was designated as an “institution of primary money laundering concern” for facilitating high-risk transactions involving sanctioned jurisdictions, including Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.
According to FinCEN, Evjemo‑Nysveen, who served as MBaer’s vice chair from September 2020 to May 2023 and had been a board member since 2019, allegedly used her position to process payments linked to a corruption scheme involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), following U.S. sanctions on the company in January 2019. The notice claims these payments were made on behalf of her husband, Bazzoni, who had been a minority shareholder in MBaer and previously sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in January 2021 for supporting a PDVSA-linked sanctions-evasion network. Although Bazzoni has since been removed from the sanctions list, the Treasury emphasized that the alleged activities occurred while he was still designated.
MBaer, founded in 2018 by Michael Bär, managed approximately CHF 4.9 billion in client assets and nearly 700 relationships before its collapse in 2026. Swiss regulator FINMA revoked the bank’s license earlier that year after uncovering systemic deficiencies in anti-money laundering compliance, weak risk management, and repeated failures to investigate or report high-risk transactions. Investigators determined that MBaer had executed transactions for clients under sanctions or with frozen assets, potentially assisting in circumventing official restrictions, prompting liquidation proceedings.
The Treasury notice also highlighted other controversial figures linked to MBaer, including José Luis Chávez Calva, described as a “key figure involved in laundering billions of dollars obtained through PDVSA corruption”,handling funds for both Bazzoni and Alex Saab, a known associate implicated in Venezuelan oil corruption networks. Calva has publicly denied wrongdoing, stating that any MBaer account held was for legitimate purposes.
Evjemo‑Nysveen and Bazzoni have strongly denied the allegations, with legal representatives asserting that the Treasury references rely on “unsubstantiated or debunked sources.” They argue that Bazzoni’s delisting from the U.S. sanctions list undermines the credibility of the claims and note that neither U.S. nor Swiss authorities have initiated legal proceedings against Evjemo‑Nysveen. No UK law enforcement agency has confirmed any investigation into either individual.
The case has drawn public attention in the United Kingdom due to the couple’s high-profile involvement in English polo. Bazzoni previously participated in charity matches, including one against Prince William, and both have been patrons of prominent polo teams. Evjemo‑Nysveen also owns significant property near Windsor, underscoring how individuals with visible social and business profiles can become entangled in complex cross-border financial crime allegations.