A Swiss court has charged the former head of Geneva-based investment firm Optimal, part of Spain’s Banco Santander, with criminal mismanagement in connection with the $65 billion Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff, according to media reports.

Manuel Echeverría, the former head of Optimal Investment Services, was charged as part of an investigation by a Geneva magistrate, according to legal officials and court documents obtained by Bloomberg and The Financial Times. The bank said it lost about $3.5 billion in client funds through Optimal’s investment in the Madoff Ponzi scheme.

Mr Echeverría is one of the first wealth managers to be facing criminal charges in connection with the scandal. He is no longer with Optimal.

The Madoff fraud, the biggest of its kind in history, hit investors at a number of private wealth management firms, hedge fund companies and financial advisory businesses. Among the issues that came to light was the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission, the powerful US regulator, was warned several times about Mr Madoff’s activities in the years leading up to his eventual conviction.

Mr Echeverría is accused of misleading investors by wrongly claiming to have conducted adequate due diligence on Mr Madoff’s operations. Optimal received millions of dollars in financial commissions related to its investments with Mr Madoff.

Mr Echeverría denied the accusations, the FT said.