Credit Suisse pays $2.6bn in US tax evasion case

Swiss bank Credit Suisse AG pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to aid and assist US taxpayers in filing false income tax returns and other documents with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)," the US Department of Justice announced. According to the statement Monday, the plea agreement, along with agreements made with state and federal partners, provides that Credit Suisse will pay a total of USD 2.6 billion, out of which USD 1.8 billion to the Department of Justice for the US Treasury, USD 100 million to the Federal Reserve, and USD 715 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services. US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement "this case shows that no financial institution, no matter its size or global reach, is above the law. "Credit Suisse conspired to help US citizens hide assets in offshore accounts in order to evade paying taxes. When a bank engages in misconduct this brazen, it should expect that the Justice Department will pursue criminal prosecution to the fullest extent possible, as has happened here," he stressed. As part of the plea agreement, Credit Suisse acknowledged that "for decades prior to and through 2009, it operated an illegal cross-border banking business that knowingly and willfully aided and assisted thousands of US clients in opening and maintaining undeclared accounts and concealing their offshore assets and income from the IRS." The Justice Department noted that "the guilty plea by the Swiss corporation is the result of a years-long investigation by US law enforcement authorities that has also produced indictments of eight Credit Suisse executives since 2011; two of those individuals have pleaded guilty so far."