Calls for Criminal Prosecution of CREDIT SUISSE Bankers and Advisors who facilitated $4 BILLION Tax-Evasion Schemes

ON Monday, May 5, 2025 –

• The Wyden Investigation has resulted in a $511 Million Settlement Agreement by Credit Suisse For Helping the Ultra-Wealthy Evade Taxes.
• As a result of this settlement, Finance Committee Ranking Member Senator Ron Wyden has called for Criminal Prosecution of Bankers And Advisors Who Facilitated Tax-Evasion Schemes

• Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to concealing from IRS investigators.   
• $4 BILLION
• Across 475 offshore accounts
• This guilty plea follows a US Senate Finance Committee Investigation that uncovered a Pattern of Tax Evasion by Credit Suisse Clients in 2023.
• The 2023 Senate Finance Committee report shows how Credit Suisse helped wealthy clients hide their wealth offshore and dodge U.S. taxes.
• The 2023 report is here =
• https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SFC%20CREDIT%20SUISSE%20REPORT%20FINAL%20Mar%2028.pdf
• The above follows a May 2014 plea agreement with the United States, where the bank agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines, restitution, and other penalties 

The committee’s investigation uncovered major violations of that 2014 plea agreement.

• The committee’s investigation uncovered major violations of that plea agreement, including a previously unknown, ongoing and potentially criminal conspiracy involving the failure to disclose nearly $100 million in secret offshore accounts belonging to a single family of American taxpayers.
• The investigation also shed new light on how Credit Suisse bankers aided and abetted offshore tax evasion by
1. U.S. businessman Dan Horsky, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to one of the most significant criminal tax evasion cases in American history.
• The committee also obtained information from Credit Suisse on other large, undeclared accounts belonging to ultra-wealthy U.S. citizens with more than $20 million held at the bank.
• By the investigation’s conclusion, Credit Suisse disclosed to the committee that it had identified 23 such accounts, and more reviews were underway.
• Based on the committee’s findings, the total amount concealed in violating Credit Suisse’s 2014 plea agreement is more than $700 million.

NDA & Credit Suisse AG Singapore.

• In addition to the 2025 GUILTY plea noted above, Credit Suisse Services AG entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia concerning U.S. Accounts booked at Credit Suisse AG Singapore.
• Under the NPA, Credit Suisse Services AG agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department in ongoing investigations and pay significant monetary penalties for maintaining accounts in Singapore on behalf of U.S. taxpayers using offshore accounts to evade U.S. taxes and reporting requirements.
• According to the Plea Agreement, NPA, and documents filed in court today: from Jan. 1, 2010, and continuing until about July 2021, Credit Suisse AG, which had ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individual clients around the globe, conspired with employees, U.S. customers, and others to wilfully aid U.S. customers in concealing their ownership and control of assets and funds held at the bank.

THE SCHEME

• This enabled those U.S. customers to evade their U.S. tax obligations in several ways, including by opening and maintaining undeclared offshore accounts for U.S. taxpayers at Credit Suisse AG and providing a variety of offshore private banking services that assisted U.S. taxpayers in concealing their assets and income from the IRS and allowed them to continue failing to file FBARs.
• Among other fraudulent acts, bankers at Credit Suisse
• Falsified records,
• Processed fictitious donation paperwork, and
• Serviced more than $1 billion in accounts without tax compliance documentation.
• In doing so, Credit Suisse AG committed new crimes and breached its May 2014 plea agreement with the United States.

2014 AGREEMENT

• In May 2014, Credit Suisse AG entered into a legally binding plea agreement with the United States Department of Justice. The agreement was part of a settlement in which Credit Suisse admitted helping U.S. taxpayers evade taxes by hiding assets in offshore accounts. Here are some key points:

• Guilty Plea: Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiring to aid tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers  
• Financial Penalty: The bank agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines, restitution, and other penalties  
• Compliance Measures: Credit Suisse committed to implementing rigorous internal controls and compliance measures to prevent future tax evasion.
• Disclosure Requirements: The bank was required to disclose information about its U.S. clients' accounts and cooperate with ongoing investigations

BETWEEN 2014 AND JUNE 2023, CREDIT SUISSE AG SINGAPORE

• held undeclared accounts for U.S. persons, which Credit Suisse AG Singapore knew or should have known were U.S., with total assets valued at over $2 billion.
• Credit Suisse AG Singapore
• Failed to identify the actual beneficial owners of accounts adequately and
• Could not conduct an adequate inquiry about U.S. indicia in the accounts.

IN 2023, DURING THE POST-MERGER OF UBS AG SINGAPORE AND CREDIT SUISSE AG SINGAPORE,

• UBS became aware of accounts held at Credit Suisse AG Singapore that appeared to be undeclared U.S. accounts.
• UBS froze some of the accounts, voluntarily disclosed information about those identified accounts to the Justice Department and cooperated by investigating the identified accounts.

5 MAY 2025 AGREEMENT

• Under today’s resolutions, Credit Suisse Services AG and, by extension, UBS AG, are required to cooperate fully with ongoing investigations and affirmatively disclose any information they may later uncover regarding U.S.-related accounts.
• The agreements provide no protections for any individuals. Under the guilty plea and the NPA, Credit Suisse Services AG will pay $510,608,909 in penalties, restitution, forfeiture, and fines.

FINANCE COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER RON WYDEN SAID

• The settlement fully vindicates his committee’s investigation and the brave whistleblowers who contributed to the report. He called for criminal prosecution of Credit Suisse Bankers and Advisors who facilitated the tax evasion of their wealthy clients.
• “This settlement fully vindicates the findings of my investigation, which exposed how Credit Suisse kept hiding more than $700 million offshore for wealthy Americans in violation of their deal to avoid prosecution.
• The ultra-wealthy and shady Swiss bankers shouldn’t get a free pass to cook up offshore tax evasion schemes when regular Americans are paying their fair share,”
• “I’ve been watchdogging this issue for years, because government regulators were asleep on the job.
• Now it’s on the Trump administration to criminally prosecute any banker or professional advisor involved in perpetrating this sprawling criminal enterprise.
• If they don’t follow through, it will be yet another handout to the super-rich and another betrayal of working Americans who play by the rules.”

References

• Office of Public Affairs | Credit Suisse Services AG Admits to ...https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/credit-suisse-services-ag-admits-conspiring-us-taxpayers-hide-assets-and-income-offshore
•  Credit Suisse admits scheme to hide more than $4 billion in offshore ...https://finance.yahoo.com/news/credit-suisse-admits-scheme-hide-051700986.html
• Credit Suisse to pay $511 million for helping U.S. taxpayers hide over $4 billion overseas https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/credit-suisse-to-pay-511-million-for-helping-u-s-taxpayers-hide-over-4-billion-overseas/ar-AA1Ed10c
• https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-investigation-finds-credit-suisse-complicit-in-ongoing-tax-evasion-by-ultra-wealthy-americans
• https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/credit-suisse-reaches-agreement-with-us-doj-tax-case-pay-511-million-2025-05-05/
• https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-investigation-finds-credit-suisse-complicit-in-ongoing-tax-evasion-by-ultra-wealthy-americans
• 2023 U.S. Senate Finance Committee report "CREDIT SUISSE'S ROLE IN U.S. TAX EVASION SCHEMES"
• https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SFC%20CREDIT%20SUISSE%20REPORT%20FINAL%20Mar%2028.pdf