UBS Fired Him for ‘Blackmail’ Then Macron Gave Him a Medal

A former auditor was fired by UBS Group AG and accused of “blackmail” after he blew the whistle on suspicious behavior by bankers crossing the Swiss border into France. Now he’s been awarded a medal by President Emmanuel Macron.

Nicolas Forissier was made a “chevalier” — or knight — of France’s National Order of Merit during a ceremony on Friday at the Senate in Paris, joining some 177,000 other members.

Macron’s decree recognizing Forissier was published in late November last year, just two weeks after France’s top court confirmed UBS’s overall guilt but ordered the reexamination ...