Credit Suisse Plea Agreement Statement of Facts
“The prosecution of international tax evasion is a priority area for the IRS Department of Criminal Investigations, and we will continue to prosecute money here in the United States and around the world,” said IRS Commissioner Koskinen. “I would like to commend the special agents of the IRS Department of Criminal Investigations for all their hard work in this area and the close cooperation with the Department of Justice. Today`s guilty plea is another important step in law enforcement`s ongoing efforts to investigate the use of offshore accounts for tax evasion. People should no longer feel comfortable hiding their wealth and income from the IRS. the nature, gravity and dissemination of the tort described in the Statement of Facts, including, but not limited to, the involvement of CSSEL executives and senior managers in materially false statements in the provision of documents, the misappropriation of credit funds used to pay significant bribes to three CSSEL employees, and bribes to senior Mozambican government officials over a period of several years were used; Enforcement actions included this criminal information accusing Credit Suisse of conspiracy to commit electronic fraud resolved by this deferred tracking agreement and this criminal information accusing Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited (CSSEL) of conspiracy to commit electronic fraud resolved by this agreement. The agreement, along with agreements with state and federal partners, requires Credit Suisse to pay a total of $2.6 billion to $1.8 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice. Treasury, $100 million to the Federal Reserve and $715 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services. The plea agreement was filed today in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Earlier this year, Credit Suisse paid approximately $196 million in recoveries, interest and penalties to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violating federal securities laws by providing cross-border brokerage and investment advisory services to U.S. clients without first registering with the SEC. This agreement with the SEC is also reflected in today`s agreement. Together, these actions by U.S. law enforcement and federal and federal partners rightly punish Credit Suisse for its past conduct in these areas. On December 5, two former employees of a Credit Suisse subsidiary were convicted of helping U.S. clients engage in tax evasion. On 12 March, Andreas Bachmann, a former banker at Credit Suisse Fides, pleaded guilty to a replacement indictment in connection with his work as a banker at Credit Suisse Fides.
On April 30, Josef Dörig, a former Employee of Credit Suisse Fides and owner/operator of a trust company, pleaded guilty before the IRS for his role in managing offshore companies used by U.S. taxpayers to conceal their accounts with Credit Suisse. The pleas were accepted by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in the Eastern District of Virginia. Bachmann and Dörig each face a maximum legal sentence of five years in prison. e. the Company`s wholly-owned subsidiary, CSSEL, pleads guilty under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C) to conspiracy to commit electronic fraud, contrary to Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1349. Under the agreement, Credit Suisse acknowledged that for decades before and until 2009, it engaged in illegal cross-border banking that knowingly and intentionally helped and assisted thousands of U.S.
customers open and maintain undeclared accounts and obscure their offshore assets and IRS income. “Credit Suisse`s guilty plea is just the department`s latest attempt to hit undeclared bank accounts, fake trusts and other foreign schemes used by U.S. taxpayers for tax evasion,” said Assistant Attorney General Cole. “We will continue to hold bankers, brokers and other professionals in Switzerland and around the world to account, as well as the institutions that trained and instructed them to enforce bank secrecy laws to protect U.S. tax evaders.” This article also describes the ways in which the U.S. customer can hide their account. This involves, for example, structuring money transfers to circumvent reporting requirements for foreign currency transactions, or providing offshore credit/debit cards to repatriate funds to accounts.” Credit Suisse and its co-conspirators used U.S. remittances and the U.S.
financial system to defraud U.S. and international investors in EMATUM Securities. The co-conspirators used international and intergovernmental cables to, from and across the United States, including lines through the Eastern District of New York, to transmit false and misleading statements to investors in EMATUM Securities, transfer proceeds received from these investors, and pay bribes to Credit Suisse bankers and bribes to Mozambican government officials. On the 19th. In May 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to facilitating tax evasion by helping U.S. clients avoid IRS taxes. The $2.6 billion fine imposed is the heaviest ever imposed in a criminal tax case. Credit Suisse`s guilty plea is the result of a year-long investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has also led to charges against eight Credit Suisse executives, two of whom have so far pleaded guilty. Under the Credit Suisse agreement, no Credit Suisse employee had to plead guilty. Three months later, the Department of Justice played its part against Credit Suisse and, on May 19, snatched from the bank an admission of guilt for conspiracy to support U.S.
tax evasion. The agreement includes fines of $2.6 billion. The Swiss financial giant, which has a major investment banking subsidiary in New York, has been the largest bank to plead guilty in the United States for nearly two decades. c. the Company did not receive full recognition of its cooperation because it significantly delayed the presentation of relevant evidence, including recorded telephone calls in which Company employees discussed concerns about the conduct set out in the Statement of Facts; The Offices agree to offset the remaining amount of the total penalty up to a maximum of $47,200,000 and the total amount of recovery up to a maximum of $10,344,865 with the amount paid by the Company to the SEC in a parallel decision between the Company and the SEC, and up to a maximum of $24,752,000 in the amount, that the company pays to the FCA as part of a decision presented in parallel. between the Company and the FCA. The Company`s payment obligation to the United States under the Agreement will be supplemented with the total payment of $175,568,000 as described above, provided that the Company pays the remaining amount of the Total Penalty and Expiration Amount to the SEC and FCA no later than one year after the commencement of the Term. If an amount of such payments is not made to the SEC and FCA before the end of a year from the beginning of the period, or is returned to an affiliate`s corporation for any reason, the remaining balance of the total amount of the penalty and forfeiture will be paid to the U.S. Treasury. “Credit Suisse`s advocacy today is an important step in our global application against those who evade their tax obligations by hiding their assets in foreign bank accounts, as well as against financial institutions, bankers and other professionals who facilitate this behavior,” said Assistant Attorney General Keneally of the Tax Division. “Credit Suisse has also changed its operations to ensure that U.S.
taxpayers can no longer hide their assets from Credit Suisse and has provided the government with valuable information that advances our investigation.” The company eventually provided the offices with all relevant facts of which it was aware, including information about the individuals involved in the misconduct; Tags: Credit Suisse, DoJ, Fine, Guilty, Guilty Admission Credit Suisse, based in Switzerland, was convicted today after a guilty plea in May and will pay $2.6 billion to state and federal agencies for aiding and abetting U.S. taxpayers file false tax returns and other documents with the Internal Revenue Service. The Ministry of Justice only reached the plea agreement after months of negotiations with Credit Suisse. Under the terms of the agreement, Credit Suisse will pay $1.8 billion to the Department of Justice, $100 million to the Federal Reserve and $715 million to the New York Department of Financial Services. The total amount reflects $196 million that Credit Suisse paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year to pay for the costs of providing unregistered brokerage and investment services to U.S. clients. .