The Singapore trial pitting a Credit Suisse Group AG trust against its embittered billionaire client wraps up this week with both sides set to play the blame game for the tycoon’s losses at the hands of a rogue banker.
(Bloomberg) — The Singapore trial pitting a Credit Suisse Group AG trust against its embittered billionaire client wraps up this week with both sides set to play the blame game for the tycoon’s losses at the hands of a rogue banker.
The two-day hearing, which marks the end of a trial that began in September, will start with closing arguments from lawyers representing Credit Suisse Trust (Singapore) Ltd. Georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili sued the bank unit for $800 million in damages and lost income he said he would have made over the years if his money had been safely invested.
Frenchman Patrice Lescaudron was convicted in 2018 for fraud over a scheme he ran to take money from Ivanishvili’s accounts to cover growing losses among others clients’ portfolios. The bank and the trust bear responsibility because apart from some investing in Russian shares the Georgian did through Credit Suisse early on, he left investment decisions to Lescaudron, Ivanishvili testified in September.
Credit Suisse Trust has consistently argued that its responsibility was limited to administration of the assets belonging to Bidzina Ivanishvili and that it was the tycoon, or his Georgian business adviser, who called the shots on investment decisions and should be liable for any losses. Lescaudron was a lone wolf who hid his crimes from colleagues, according to the bank.
On the last day of the September trial, the trust’s main lawyer surprised observers by conceding the trust should have flagged unauthorized transfers from Ivanishvili’s accounts. That may have been an attempt to limit the trust’s liabilities as the court weighs the broader issue of legal responsibility.
The stakes for the Singapore trial are high. Ivanishvili in March won a $607 million judgment from a Bermuda court, which ruled a local Credit Suisse life insurance unit there had turned a “blind eye” to Lescaudron’s fraud. CS Life is appealing that decision.
Separate negotiations between the two sides appear to have stalled, according to a statement the Georgian put out in late January. The bank had initiated discussions but those were now little more than an “illusion of negotiations,” according to the release.
Representatives for Credit Suisse and Ivanishvili declined to comment ahead of the hearing.
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