There are still many question marks about their money: Jacques and Jessica Moretti on the way to a survey.Image: keystone
The Federal Office of Police does not rule out that money of criminal origin was also laundered in Crans-Montana. Possible connection points to Corsican clans are mentioned – but without any concrete information being given.
03/11/2026, 06:1203/11/2026, 06:12
The Fedpol report is explosive. As several media outlets have reported in recent days, the Federal Office of Police analyzed the private and business accounts of Jacques and Jessica Moretti based on suspicious money laundering reports from the Valais Cantonal Bank and UBS from January 2026. In other words, the couple who run the bar “Le Constellation” in Crans-Montana, where there was a fire disaster on New Year’s Eve that left 41 dead and over 100 injured.
The Watson Report:
According to the “NZZ”, Fedpol came across a “suspected criminal financial construct that can be compared to a Ponzi scheme”. The Morettis’ empire in Switzerland is based “exclusively on the granting of presumably illegally obtained loans.” According to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, a Fedpol analysis indicates that there is suspicion of unfaithful management, forgery of documents, insurance fraud, serious tax offenses and possible social security fraud.
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scheme that produces no real profits. Returns to previous investors are funded by money from new investors rather than actual profits. The scammer poses as a brilliant investor who earns high returns, thereby attracting other investors. It is therefore a kind of pyramid scheme in which the fraudster does not generate money by actively recruiting new participants, but by acting as a middleman. The scheme is named after the US-Italian fraudster Charles Ponzi, who created a huge house of cards with postal notes in the USA in the 1920s and became a millionaire – before everything was exposed.
But is money laundering also involved? Fedpol obviously has no concrete evidence of this. According to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, Fedpol spoke of movements in bank accounts with unusual characteristics. Pass-through accounts were used several times, which made tracking financial flows more difficult. There are also cash deposits “which, although not unusual, do not appear to be completely free of possible criminal origins”.
As the “NZZ” writes, one of the bank reports referred to the passage of the law on money laundering and assets “which may be subject to the control of a criminal organization”. Fedpol mentions organized crime groups in Corsica in the report, but only vaguely. The federal police have determined that Corsican criminal organizations are active in the entertainment sector (bars, restaurants, casinos) and that Moretti has also been active in this sector in Switzerland and France for years.
It is unclear which organizations Fedpol is referring to. It could be a coincidence and doesn’t have to mean anything: But Jean-Marc G., Moretti’s foster son, once hinted on social media about a personal connection to a powerful Corsican family clan. This is what research by CH Media shows.
Jean-Marc G. plays a central role in Moretti’s environment. Moretti describes him as a foster son and confidante. According to “Figaro”, when questioned by the Valais judiciary, he said about G.: “I have raised him from the age of eleven until today.” Moretti also put him in charge of his favorite restaurant, the “Vieux Chalet” in Lens near Crans. According to “Figaro”, the foster son is now in France.
Memories of the “French Connection”
The social media post mentioned dates from the end of 2016. The foster son posted it from his native village in Corsica. At that time a religious monument was blessed there. In the post, he tagged five people he was with in the village, including his mother and father. But he also tagged a pair of siblings from the F. family, which has dominated the village politically for years.
A Facebook entry from Moretti’s foster son.Image: screenshot facebook
The F. family has an eventful past. It came into international focus in the 1970s when the USA broke up the “French Connection”. According to American investigators, an uncle of the siblings was one of the most important Corsican godparents and a leading figure in the “French Connection”. The man was never charged for this. He always denied the allegations.
The “French Connection” was primarily a Corsican criminal gang with a center in Marseille that flooded the USA in particular with high-purity heroin. Since the Second World War, the Corsicans had been on good terms with the US secret service CIA because they had supported the Allies. Even after the war, people continued to support each other: American and French secret services financed operations partly with income from drug trafficking.
From the mid-1960s and increasingly in the early 1970s under Richard Nixon, the tide was turning for the “French Connection” in the USA. In 1972, Time magazine addressed testimony before a US Senate subcommittee in 1964 under the title “The Milieu of the Corsican Godparents.” F., “one of the Corsican godfathers,” is “a well-known former war hero whose business interests include the casino business in Great Britain, France and Lebanon.” This meant the uncle of the siblings from the F family.
Alleged godfather shot dead in Paris in 1982
In 1968, this godfather was almost shot in an ambush during a gang vendetta. Four months later, the attackers were killed by gunmen in a Paris restaurant. In 1982, the F. family’s patron was also hit: the Gaullist party deputy and former resistance fighter was shot in Paris as he tried to park his Jaguar. The perpetrators were never caught.
The patron left behind a gambling empire that his brothers and nephews continued. The family owned lucrative gambling clubs in Paris. The judiciary was concerned with whether money was laundered there: the last of these clubs was closed in 2014 on suspicion of illegal work and money laundering. At that time, the patron was F. from the Corsican village, whom Moretti’s foster son had marked.
Is this gambling world and the old connection to the “French Connection” one of the backgrounds that Fedpol is alluding to? Possible, but open.
Explosive judgments in Marseille
What is known in court is that last year an offspring of the F. family was sentenced to six years in prison in Marseille in the trial against the Corsican mafia gang “Petit Bar”. According to the TV channel France 3, the man ran a family casino in Agadir (Morocco) before evading justice. He is therefore accused of serious money laundering as part of an organized group and participation in a criminal organization.
According to media reports, the man is the cousin of Jacques Santoni, the boss of the Petit Bar gang. Essentially, the trial in Marseille was about the fact that the gang had invested millions in real estate in the winter sports resort of Courchevel through front people and related business people. A wealthy Corsican businessman who lived in Geneva and fled to Dubai was also convicted. This man originally comes from the same village as Moretti’s father. This too may be a meaningless Corsican coincidence.
Moretti’s foster son G. (33), who recently cleaned up his Facebook profile, stated in 2013 that he lived in Agadir. Is this also just a Corsican coincidence? Also the fact that the father of the foster son stated years ago that he was the manager of a casino in Bulgaria?
Moretti lawyer questions Fedpol report
What is certain is that dubious Corsican money flowed heavily into Switzerland decades ago. The F. gambling family also deposited untaxed millions in local accounts. In 2015, millions were uncovered after a data breach at the bank HSBC. The money apparently belonged to the father of the casino manager from Agadir who was convicted in Marseille.
The Morettis’ lawyers did not respond to a query from CH Media about the Fedpol report by press time. French-speaking Switzerland television quotes one of them as saying that the money laundering reporting center is not a law enforcement agency. In practice, “only a very small percentage of reports lead to a conviction.”
The presumption of innocence applies. (aargauerzeitung.ch)