Credit Suisse violated a 2014 plea deal with US authorities by continuing to help ultra-wealthy Americans evade taxes and concealing more than $700m from the government, the US Senate Finance Committee has found.
After concluding a two-year investigation into Credit Suisse, the committee said it had uncovered "major violations" of the 2014 deal between the Swiss lender and the US Department of Justice for enabling tax evasion.
These violations included failing to disclose nearly $100m in secret offshore accounts belonging to a single family of US taxpayers, which it said represented an "ongoing and potentially criminal conspiracy".
Credit Suisse earlier this month agreed to a rescue takeover by rival UBS.
In an emailed statement today, Credit Suisse said it did not tolerate tax evasion and had been cooperating with US authorities.
"Credit Suisse's new leadership team has cooperated with the Committee’s inquiry and has supported the work of Senator Wyden, including in respect of suggested policy solutions to help strengthen the financial industry’s ability to detect undisclosed US persons," the bank said.
It was referring to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden.
"At the centre of this investigation are greedy Swiss bankers and catnapping government regulators, and the result appears to be a massive, ongoing conspiracy to help ultra-wealthy US citizens to evade taxes and rip off their fellow Americans," Senator Wyden said.
Credit Suisse in 2014 became the largest bank in 20 years to plead guilty to a US criminal charge, agreeing to pay a $2.5 billion fine to authorities for helping Americans evade taxes in a conspiracy that spanned decades.
It was one of a string of scandals that rocked Switzerland's second-biggest lender and contributed to it being forced into the arms of UBS.
Last year it pled guilty to defrauding investors over an $850m loan to Mozambique meant to pay for a tuna fishing fleet, and in June the bank was convicted by Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court of failing to prevent money-laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang.
Swiss authorities engineered the rescue of Credit Suisse earlier this month as they scrambled to prevent the lender from collapsing.
UBS today rehired Sergio Ermotti as CEO to steer its takeover of CS and reassure the world's wealthy that UBS remains a safe harbour for their cash.
