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Banking giant Credit Suisse just pleaded guilty to conspiring to hide more than $4 billion from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in at least 475 offshore accounts.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says the bank breached a previous 2014 plea agreement and helped US customers open and maintain undeclared offshore bank accounts to conceal their assets from the IRS between 2010 and 2021.
The DOJ says the guilty plea was the result of “a years-long investigation” by law enforcement.
“Among other fraudulent acts, bankers at Credit Suisse falsified records, processed fictitious donation paperwork, and serviced more than $1 billion in accounts without documentation of tax compliance.”
Credit Suisse AG Singapore held undeclared accounts for US customers with assets totaling more than $2 billion between 2014 and 2023.
The DOJ notes the banking giant UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse in 2023, called attention to the violations.
“In 2023, during the post-merger of UBS AG Singapore and Credit Suisse AG Singapore, UBS became aware of accounts held at Credit Suisse AG Singapore that appeared to be undeclared U.S. accounts. UBS froze some of the accounts, voluntarily disclosed information about those identified accounts to the Justice Department and cooperated by undertaking an investigation into the identified accounts.”
Credit Suisse agreed to pay more than $510.6 million in penalties, restitution, forfeiture and fines as part of the plea.
The bank, and by extension UBS, agreed to cooperate with ongoing investigations and disclose any pertinent information related to US accounts. The bank’s plea does not provide any protections for involved individuals, according to the DOJ.
