As the Swiss government launches a potential rescue operation for troubled banking giant Credit Suisse, it’s worth remembering the massive levels of fraud the bank has been accused of over the last several years.
In 2014, the bank pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud from the U.S. Department of Justice after admitting to helping American taxpayers file fraudulent returns and hide funds offshore.
In 2017, Credit Suisse to pay $5.38 billion for making false and irresponsible representations about residential mortgage-backed securities.
And in 2022, a whistleblower leak from within the bank revealed, at best, epic failures of due diligence on the part of Credit Suisse.
The leak revealed the bank repeatedly pursued, opened and maintained accounts for high-risk clients involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and other serious crimes, as reported by the Guardian.
Today, Credit Suisse said it has discovered “material weaknesses” in its controls over financial reporting in 2021 and 2022.
The disclosure, combined with reports that the bank’s largest shareholder will not inject more capital into the troubled institution, triggered a huge drop in Credit Suisse shares.
Soon after, Swiss regulators announced that the government will inject capital, if necessary, into the bank to keep it afloat.
Despite the potential for government intervention, the Swiss National Bank says Credit Suisse “meets the higher capital and liquidity requirements applicable to systemically important banks.”
