History and Future

Together with the former production manager as well as the former designer of Faude & Huguenin SA, S&E Fortuna Gravuren AG* continues the craftsmanship of Faude & Huguenin.

 

*Part of the S&E Group, Switzerland’s market leader for sports and honorary awards (www.se-holding.ch)

 

Numerous former customers of Faude & Huguenin SA are very grateful to us for this.

 

As can be seen from the AZ and NZZ articles below, an unbelievably high level of criminal energy within the management of Faude & Huguenin SA (in liquidation) led the company to complete ruin.

 

Unfortunately, we cannot turn back the wheel of history. Together with the former production manager and the former designer of Faude & Huguenin SA – as well as with more than 40 years of experience within the S&E Group in zinc die casting, etching, and embossing techniques – we offer high-quality alternatives at fair prices.

 

Whether medals, badges, pins, plaques, or coins – our experts are at your side with advice and support, from design to special production, bringing with them the know-how from their time at Faude & Huguenin.

 

We will also gladly find the right solution for you and look forward to hearing from you!

 

Your team at S&E Fortuna Gravuren AG

 

Phone: +41 62 721 68 58

Email: info@fortuna-gravuren.ch

 

References on Instagram: Instagram photos and videos

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AZ, April 2025

 

Three Convictions for Former Executives and an Unexplained Gold Trail

In 2022, the medal producer Faude & Huguenin went bankrupt – now three executives have been convicted of breach of trust. Questions remain unanswered.

Two of the three defendants appeared at the verdict hearing in La Chaux-de-Fonds on Friday, while the third stayed away. He was said to be in Italy. Both the court and Neuchâtel prosecutor Marc Rémy regarded him as the driving force in this very unusual case.

The case involves the collapse of the company Faude & Huguenin (F&H) in Le Locle NE, which went bankrupt in 2022. The company had supplied medals and trophies to football associations such as FIFA and UEFA as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The company was founded in 2002 through the merger of Aargau-based Faude Medaillen from Gippingen and the struggling Neuchâtel company Huguenin Frères. While Faude mainly produced medals for sports associations using the etching process, Huguenin produced particularly high-quality medals, coins, and trophies using embossing techniques – including ornate decorations and jewelry pieces, particularly for Arab states.

In the new company, cultures clashed that did not fit together – not even linguistically. And at the executive level, fatal, even criminal, mistakes were made.

 

Three Executives Convicted of Breach of Trust

The most obvious of these came to light during the trial in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The court primarily convicted the three former executives of serious breach of trust. All three were rooted in the region.

The long-serving CFO, 54, who had spent half his life working at Huguenin, received a prison sentence of 40 months without suspension. He also fabricated false invoices. As he once said, he ran the company as if it were his own. The operations manager, 60, who was the last to join the company and had even contributed machines, was given a suspended sentence of 24 months. The sales manager, 66, was sentenced to 14 months. About half of the damage, roughly CHF 900,000, is covered by seizures; the remainder must be repaid by the three.

The sentences largely corresponded to the prosecutor’s requests. He accused the trio of siphoning off CHF 431,500 between 2018 and 2020 into a Raiffeisen account they controlled. In 2018, the CFO and operations manager also appropriated 27 gold bars of 100 grams each, purchased at the company’s expense.

 

Owner’s Family Filed Criminal Complaint

The criminal proceedings against the two Italians and the Swiss began at the end of 2020 after a complaint was filed by the company’s president and owner, Hanspeter Faude. From the outset, the trio admitted to diverting money. But especially the CFO and operations manager claimed noble reasons: their aim had been to save the company. They argued that decisions by the president endangered the company.

Thus, they secretly founded a new company, “Les Artisans Médailleurs,” with which they planned to restart if necessary. They diverted the required share capital of CHF 100,000 from F&H.

Mathias Bauer, defense lawyer for the operations manager, said the defendants feared that the president’s actions would lead to bankruptcy, costing numerous jobs and destroying valuable know-how important for the region. “Large sums of money regularly flowed to the other factory in India, and machines were dismantled and moved to Lucerne.” The lawyer argued that the defendants did not cause the bankruptcy and that the owner’s responsibilities were unfortunately not investigated more thoroughly. The CFO and operations manager expressed similar views.

The situation was convoluted. The company struggled with competition from low-wage countries. Changes in directors and ownership did not improve matters. In 2013, the three defendants even invested capital to repurchase the company together with Faude. They later lost this money because they did not participate in a necessary capital increase. Thus, Faude was once again in sole control, which the Romand faction apparently resented.

Additionally, the failed attempt to produce less expensive medals in India instead of Gippingen, in order to remain competitive, cost the owning family a lot of money. The pandemic added further difficulties. In the end, the company in Le Locle employed only a dozen people; at its peak, it had 300.

 

Court Ruling: “Company Rescue” a Cynical Excuse

The court did not believe the executives’ claim that diverting money had been meant to save the company. On the contrary: the judges considered this assertion nothing but cynical. For them, it was clear that the three contributed to the company’s downfall, from which they wanted to profit with their own firm.

Luzern-based business lawyer Federico Domenghini, representing the defrauded company, agreed. The three managers had kept shadow accounts with the aim of enriching themselves, he said. He put the damage between 2013 and 2020 at around CHF 3.5 million. “Around CHF 3 million is still missing today.”

Domenghini also criticized the prosecutor for not investigating all aspects – such as two unexplained gold transactions between 2013 and 2015. Company records showed that about 7 kilos of gold bars passed through the company in two cases. The gold, of unknown origin, was sold to two Swiss refineries. The proceeds were first credited to Faude & Huguenin but immediately transferred to the account of one of the accused, according to the lawyer.

It should have been clarified, Domenghini argued, how the gold was declared to the refineries, what stamps and certificates it carried, and whether questionable sources might have been involved.

One of the accused has not yet responded regarding the background of the case.

 

Prosecutor: No Evidence of Money Laundering

Prosecutor Marc Rémy disagreed. He stated: “At present, I have no information that would allow me to suspect F&H of money laundering or any other offense related to this gold.”

The case is still not fully closed. The convicted sales manager will not appeal, according to his lawyer. However, both the CFO, who faces imprisonment, and the operations manager may appeal.

Until a final conviction, the presumption of innocence applies.

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NZZ, December 2022

Medals and Trophies for the World: Traditional Company Faude & Huguenin Goes Bankrupt – Management Faces Fraud Charges

What began in 1868 in a workshop in Le Locle with the production of watch cases has now ended in criminal court: Faude & Huguenin SA, internationally known as a manufacturer of medals, coins, and trophies, had to file for bankruptcy. The management is accused of embezzling large sums of money from the company.

As the name suggests, Faude & Huguenin SA originated from two family businesses. The Neuchâtel branch, Huguenin Frères, established itself in the late 19th century in the wake of the local watch industry. In a small workshop in Le Locle, they initially produced watch cases for the renowned watchmakers in the region. 154 years later, the proud history of the company has come to a tragic end – with large-scale fraud by its management, which siphoned off urgently needed liquidity in recent years. The company had to declare bankruptcy in mid-November, confirmed by Martina Faude, spokesperson for the owning family.

From its founding years onward, Huguenin Frères et Cie SA grew steadily. Soon the workshop was too small, and in 1899, a factory building was constructed in Le Locle that would remain the company headquarters until the end. After World War I, as pocket watches gave way to wristwatches, the company developed new products such as shooting badges and sports medals.

Thanks to a sophisticated embossing process, the family-run company from the Jura quickly became a world market leader. Its clients included UEFA and FIFA, the International Ski Federation (FIS), and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as well as the Jordanian royal family.

 

Gold, Silver, and Bronze

Its toughest domestic competitor in those years was the Aargau family company Faude Medaillen. Anyone who has ever participated in a sports event or fun run in Switzerland is likely familiar with the medals and trophies originally produced in Gippingen. Thanks to an advanced 2-D relief etching process, Faude became the Swiss market leader in the 1970s. This small but specialized SME supplied many sports associations with medal sets in gold, silver, and bronze.

In 2002, Faude acquired its competitor from Neuchâtel, and from then on operated as Faude & Huguenin SA. Production was consolidated in Le Locle, while administration remained at changing locations in German-speaking Switzerland.

In retrospect, one must question whether the two company strands ever truly grew together. Two years ago, it was revealed that three executives in Le Locle had systematically defrauded the company – the CEO, the CFO, and another senior manager.

 

Accused Are Confessed

The owning family filed a complaint, and since then, the Neuchâtel public prosecutor’s office has conducted criminal proceedings against the three accused for fraud and breach of trust. According to an interim decision of the Neuchâtel cantonal court obtained by the NZZ, the three are largely confessing. Only the total amount embezzled is disputed. Martina Faude estimates the damage at at least CHF 1.8 million. All three defendants remain free.

The embezzlement undoubtedly broke the back of the traditional company, which employed only around a dozen staff in Switzerland at the time, Martina Faude believes. However, she admits that even without the criminal activities, the company would have faced economic challenges.

Competition from China had grown strong, although Faude & Huguenin had outsourced much production to Jaipur, India, a few years earlier. Complex production steps for medals and coins still took place in Le Locle, but crucial know-how was lost due to retirements and could not be adequately replaced. The trade of medallists is now rarely taught.

The two major crises in recent years also hit the family business hard: Most sporting events worldwide were canceled during the COVID pandemic, halving orders for medals and trophies. Additionally, surging electricity costs in Le Locle placed further strain on the company.

On top of all this, the three executives apparently exhibited great criminal energy to push the struggling company into complete ruin. According to the interim court decision, the three opened an account at a local Raiffeisen branch in October 2019. The three executives were authorized signatories, but no family members were involved.

 

The Management Dipped Deep into the Cash

Subsequently, some large customer payments were processed through this account. The funds were later transferred to the personal accounts of the three defendants or withdrawn directly at the counter. Proven and admitted so far are unlawful transfers totaling CHF 450,000.

One of the alleged fraudsters has since repaid his share of CHF 150,000. For the other two, at least a portion was seized.

This unusual story raises questions not only about the internal supervision and auditing, but also about Raiffeisen bank, which apparently allowed the criminal trio to act, possibly neglecting its duty of care. Lawyer Federico Domenghini, representing the Faude family, criticizes this.

Domenghini describes the prosecutor’s efforts as cautious. Efforts to legally prove additional damages claimed by the family are considered minimal. For instance, a precious metals account used by Faude & Huguenin at a gold refinery in Ticino may have been misused by the three defendants for their own benefit.

The responsible prosecutor, Marc Rémy, refers to a complex investigation whose end is not yet foreseeable. Further interrogations are planned, and no conclusion is expected before the end of 2023. Given the confessions, an indictment against the three defendants is foreseeable. The only remaining question is the total amount involved.

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Coin Week, January 2023

The End of a Traditional Company: Faude & Huguenin Is Bankrupt

A chapter in numismatics spanning more than 150 years ended almost unnoticed in 2022: Faude & Huguenin went bankrupt. The demise of Switzerland’s most important medal manufacturer was likely not only due to Covid, but also to the criminal activity of its leading employees.

Huguenin Frères – From Watches to a Major Medal Producer

The success story began not with coins, but with watches. In 1868, the brothers Fritz and Albert Huguenin founded a company in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel that specialized in the manufacture of watch cases and soon supplied major watch manufacturers around the world. When demand declined in the late 1880s, they gradually switched production to minting medals – with great success.

At a time when countries, cities, clubs, and private individuals enthusiastically had medals minted for every occasion, Huguenin became the leading producer in Switzerland and was also able to secure numerous international orders. What began as a small factory grew so much that it was able to open its own factory in 1899. By 1910, the company had more than 300 employees.

During this period, Huguenin Frères was one of the world’s most important addresses for the production of medals and coins. For example, a large portion of all Swiss medals were minted in Le Locle, including the popular shooting medals, as well as hundreds of thousands of orders and decorations for Serbia, as well as circulation coins for Poland, Latvia, Romania, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

During the collector boom in the 1970s and 1980s, Huguenin Frères once again made a name for itself, producing medals and non-circulating legal tenders for collectors on a large scale. The company repeatedly demonstrated ingenuity. For example: Did you know that the world’s first colored coin, issued in 1992 in Palau’s name, was produced in Le Locle?

Sports medals were another important pillar of the company’s business. From 1952 until the very end, Huguenin produced the snowflake-shaped winner’s medals for the Ski World Championships. FIFA, UEFA, and the Olympic Committee were also among the company’s regular customers.

Decline

Nevertheless, Huguenin ran into difficulties in the 1990s. The market for modern coins was stagnant, and cheaper competition from overseas was causing problems for European manufacturers. After a merger with the Neuchâtel-based medal manufacturer Paul Kramer in 1999, Huguenin was acquired by Faude Medaillen AG in 2002. The company from Gippingen in the canton of Aargau, founded in 1963, was already the market leader for medals, plaques, and pins for sporting events, which could be produced cost-effectively using a relief-etching process.

However, the new Faude & Huguenin SA continued to struggle with problems. Starting in 2006, part of the production was outsourced to Jaipur, India, and only particularly high-quality medals were to continue to be produced in Le Locle. In recent years, further problems have accumulated at this production site: outdated equipment, a lack of young talent, and lost know-how – hardly the ideal conditions for navigating the coronavirus crisis. It’s easy to understand that the cancellation of major sporting events around the world posed a huge problem for a leading producer of sports medals. Rising material and energy costs were further serious factors for the company.

A Terrible End

Whether the ailing company, which recently employed only around 12 people, would have survived the current crises is difficult to say. The fact that Faude & Huguenin had to file for bankruptcy in mid-November 2022 had another reason in the first place. The final nail in the coffin was self-inflicted: As the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported on December 12, 2022, three senior employees are alleged to have embezzled income. The company’s CEO and CFO, among others, are said to have opened an account at the end of 2019 without the knowledge of the owner family. Customers paid into this new account instead of the company account, from which the perpetrators transferred the money to their private accounts. The suspects have reportedly already admitted that the company lost at least CHF 450,000 in revenue as a result. The owner family even estimates that the company lost at least CHF 1.8 million in revenue as a result of this practice.

The investigation is ongoing; charges have been filed against the three employees on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust. Regardless of the outcome of the case, any rescue will likely come too late for the long-established company now involved.