U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says Credit Suisse AG agreed to plead guilty to assisting some of its clients with tax evasion. This comes after a long-term investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Credit Suisse acknowledges that it assisted U.S. clients with concealing offshore accounts from the Internal Revenue Service. Consequently, the financial services company has agreed to pay $2.6 billion. The Justice Department says $1.8 billion will go to the Department of Justice for the U.S. Treasury, $100 million will go to the Federal Reserve, and $715 million will go to the New York State Department of Financial Services.
The Justice Department says this is the highest payment in a criminal tax case investigation. This investigation has resulted in the indictment of eight Credit Suisse employees since 2011.
Says Holder in a written press statement:
“This case shows that no financial institution, no matter its size or global reach, is above the law. Credit Suisse conspired to help U.S. 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.â€
The statement of facts filed with the plea agreement says Credit Suisse used several methods to help U.S. clients hide their accounts. Some of these methods included assisting clients with using fake companies to hide undeclared accounts and getting rid of account records that were sent to the United States for client review.