UBS reaches agreement to avoid US prosecution

Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $511 million (about 420 million francs) to U.S. authorities in exchange for dropping tax fraud charges, UBS and the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

The agreement relates to the fraudulent management of offshore accounts in Singapore belonging to wealthy American clients seeking to evade US taxes between 2010 and 2021, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Credit Suisse was acquired in 2023 by its competitor and compatriot UBS under pressure from the Swiss authorities to avoid bankruptcy.

Credit Suisse Services AG "pleaded guilty and was sentenced today for participating in the concealment of more than $4 billion from the U.S. IRS in at least 475 offshore accounts," including through falsified documents and fictitious donation declarations, the Justice Department added. In doing so, the bank violated a previous agreement reached in 2014 with U.S. authorities, according to the same source.

UBS, for its part, announced this agreement under which Credit Suisse pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $511 million, assuring in a press release that it "was not involved in this behavior and has zero tolerance for tax evasion."

Credit Suisse had pledged to change its practices after agreeing in 2014 to pay a $2.6 billion fine to settle tax fraud charges in the United States.