Report accuses Credit Suisse of complicity in tax evasion
While it had paid, to avoid prosecution, a fine of 2.6 billion in 2014, the bank would then have allowed Americans to hide several hundred million dollars.
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In total, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee estimates the total amount credit Suisse found to be in breach of the terms of the 2014 agreement at more than $700 million.
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Recently acquired by UBS, Credit Suisse has aided “the wealthiest Americans” with tax evasion, according to a US Senate report released on Wednesday. This report is the conclusion of two years of investigation carried out in order to ensure that the Swiss bank had indeed modified its practices in this area, after having accepted, in 2014, to pay a fine of 2.6 billion dollars, a record at the time, to end prosecution on the same charges.
According to the Senate Finance Committee, the bank failed to comply with the terms of the agreement signed almost nine years ago with the United States Department of Justice to close a lawsuit filed because it did not failed to report $100 million in assets to the US IRS.
During the investigation, Credit Suisse also acknowledged that 23 other accounts, endowed with at least $20 million and belonging to American citizens, had been identified, with internal investigations still ongoing. In total, the commission estimates that the total amount recognized by the bank as being in violation of the terms of the 2014 agreement is more than $700 million.
“The biggest violation in the matter of the history of the United States?”
“At the center of this investigation are greedy Swiss bankers and regulators who have failed to do their job, with the outcome appearing to be a massive and still ongoing conspiracy to allow very wealthy American citizens not to pay their taxes and to defraud their fellow citizens,” accused the chairman of the commission, Senator Ron Wyden.
The commission accuses Credit Suisse of not having respected the terms of the agreement and of having participated in, “potentially, the biggest violation of the rules on the subject in the history of the United States”. In addition, the commission believes that the senior management of the bank knew about it. She also believes that other Swiss banks could be involved, citing in particular UBS and PKB Privatbank, as well as the Israeli bank Leumi.
(AFP)
