Credit Suisse Services AG pleaded guilty to conspiring with certain U.S. taxpayers to conceal more than $4 billion in offshore accounts, agreeing to pay more than $510 million in penalties, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on May 5.
The Swiss corporation also admitted to violating a previous 2014 plea agreement and entered into a separate non-prosecution agreement over related conduct in Singapore.
The plea stems from a multiyear investigation into Credit Suisse’s role in assisting ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth U.S. clients in hiding assets from the IRS, the DOJ announcement states.
According to court documents, between 2010 and July 2021, Credit Suisse AG and its employees worked with U.S. customers and others to maintain undeclared offshore accounts, falsify records, and process fictitious documents—actions that the DOJ said enabled continued tax evasion and noncompliance with federal reporting laws.
“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,” the DOJ noted in the announcement.
The actions not only allowed clients to avoid filing required Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts reports but also breached the terms of Credit Suisse’s May 2014 plea deal with the United States. That prior agreement required the bank to avoid further criminal conduct.
In addition to the plea, Credit Suisse signed a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ’s Tax Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia regarding legacy accounts at Credit Suisse AG Singapore.
That office maintained accounts with more than $2 billion in assets for U.S. persons between 2014 and June 2023, failing to properly identify account holders or investigate U.S. ties.
UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse in 2023, discovered potentially undeclared accounts during the post-merger integration and voluntarily disclosed the findings to U.S. authorities. Some accounts were frozen, and UBS launched an internal investigation.
In a statement after the agreement was reached, UBS stated that it “was not involved in the underlying conduct and has zero tolerance for tax evasion.”
“With this resolution, UBS is pleased to have resolved another of Credit Suisse’s legacy issues, in line with UBS’s intention to resolve legacy matters at pace in a fair and balanced way and in the best interest of all its stakeholders,” UBS stated.
Under the terms of the agreements, Credit Suisse must cooperate fully with ongoing investigations and disclose any future discoveries related to U.S.-linked accounts.
In total, Credit Suisse will pay $510,608,909 in penalties, restitution, forfeiture, and fines.
Of that, $371.9 million is tied to its guilty plea, while $138.7 million stems from the non-prosecution agreement related to conduct in Singapore.
