Swiss Prosecutor Identifies Trail to Credit Suisse Money Laundering Case

A Swiss Prosecutor has identified the trail leading to the Credit Suisse money laundering case worth $60 million.

The global investment bank and financial institution of Switzerland, Credit Suisse is on the verge of facing more challenges. As the top Genevan financial crime prosecutor Yves Bertossa has found $60 million of laundered assets through the Swiss bank, as per reports from Bloomberg from the hearing of June 8.

Bertossa presented the case in the meeting last week. He included the identification of eight transactions that, according to him, are alleged. The bank allowed all those transactions during the six-year tenure between 2008 to 2014. Moreover, these transactions also include transfers into third-party accounts. 

Patrice Lescaudron was alleged as the central figure of the whole operation who faked the signatures for the creation of dummy portfolio statements in order to illicitly transfer millions of dollars. The ex-Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili was claimed to cover the losses in different portfolios of the clients. This move would lead to his conviction and imprisonment over fraud and forgery in 2018. 

Lascaudron was an employee at the bank who was released from prison in 2020, apparently only to commit suicide. Credit Suisse repeatedly insisted on putting Lescaudron behind all the cases. They stated that he was a lone actor who was involved in multiple crimes without the support of any other employee. But under the laws of the Swiss authorities, the lack of resilience to the money laundering activities from any organization is itself charged as support to the illicit practice of money laundering. 

According to the Swiss prosecutor, Bertossa, lacking oversight of Lescaudron and firms majors, allowed money laundering to happen. The official indictment could be months away as Swiss courts process the evidence.

The lack of controls on the Swiss global investment bank can also put the organization in more trouble. Credit Suisse could face another charge that lacked the controls of prevention of financial crimes.

In March, the court of Bermuda ruled against the offshore insurance unit of Credit Suisse in favor of Ivanishvili, claiming that the bank had lacked the authority by not taking protective measures against Lescaudron’s fraudulent activities.

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