Credit Suisse Group AG continues to help rich Americans hide assets from the IRS nearly a decade after a unit pleaded guilty to tax-evasion conspiracy, the US Senate Finance Committee said.
(Bloomberg) — Credit Suisse Group AG continues to help rich Americans hide assets from the IRS nearly a decade after a unit pleaded guilty to tax-evasion conspiracy, the US Senate Finance Committee said.
According to a report released Wednesday morning, the Swiss bank worked with dual citizens who used foreign passports and sometimes renounced their US citizenship to conceal assets from tax authorities. Such efforts violate the $2.6 billion plea deal the bank reached with the US Justice Department in 2014, the report said.
In a statement accompanying the report, Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who chairs the committee, slammed “greedy Swiss bankers” who appear to be engaged in a “massive, ongoing conspiracy to help ultra-wealthy U.S. citizens to evade taxes and rip off their fellow Americans,” despite Credit Suisse’s promises otherwise.
The report comes as Credit Suisse is being sold to rival UBS in a 3 billion franc ($3.3 billion) deal brokered by the Swiss government. The takeover is the culmination of years of scandal and mismanagement which arguably began with the US tax-evasion probe.
Wyden said the Senate’s investigation shows Credit Suisse didn’t live up to the 2014 deal and that its pending acquisition “does not wipe the slate clean.” The senator called on the Justice Department to crack down on “repeat offenders like Credit Suisse” and pursue criminal investigations of individual bankers.
The Senate report also comes a day after prosecutors in France raided some of the nation’s largest banks, including Societe Generale SA and BNP Paribas SA, as part of an investigation into suspected tax fraud and money laundering.
Credit Suisse has previously denied violating the 2014 plea deal.
“Credit Suisse does not tolerate tax evasion,” the bank said in a November statement responding to a Bloomberg News report that the Justice Department was investigating the bank’s compliance. “We have implemented extensive enhancements since 2014, to root out individuals who seek to conceal assets from tax authorities.”
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