Credit Suisse will pay $511 million to help wealthy Americans hide more than $4 billion

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Credit Suisse agreed to pay $511 million and pleaded guilty to help U.S. taxpayers hide more than $4 billion from authorities under a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, and admitted that it violated a deal for similar reasons.

UBS, which gained rivals in 2023 as part of emergency rescue, said on Monday that Credit Suisse Services will pay two fines, totaling more than $5 billion.

This includes $372 million to prepare false income tax returns and nearly $139 million as part of a non-request agreement regarding U.S. taxpayers booked at its estate Singapore Booking Center.

“UBS is not involved in basic conduct and has zero tolerance for tax evasion,” the bank said in a statement. As Credit Suisse's successor, UBS executives signed a plea agreement with prosecutors filed in the federal court in Virginia on Monday and signed a plea in court on behalf of the company.

The lawsuit deal ended years of Attorney General’s investigation, and Credit Suisse helped Americans hide assets and income from internal tax services in at least 475 maritime accounts. It added that the misconduct violated a 2014 plea agreement signed by the lender with U.S. authorities.

“In other frauds, Credit Suisse has forged records, handled fictional donation paperwork and provided more than $1 billion in services to the account without tax compliance documents,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Credit Suisse agreed in 2014 to pay $2.6 billion (then the highest payment in the Justice Department’s criminal tax case) to help U.S. taxpayers file false returns.

The bank also signed an agreement on Monday to avoid suing accounts held in Singapore to represent U.S. customers who use them to evade taxes. The Justice Department said the total assets that maintained the account between 2014 and 2023 exceeded $20 billion.

According to federal prosecutors, UBS discovered our accounts that appeared to be undeclared in Singapore after the merger with Credit Suisse – and later disclosed information about the Justice Department about them.

Under transactions that do not protect individuals, Credit Suisse Services and UBS must work with the ongoing investigation by the Ministry of Justice.

The settlement came before the 2023 U.S. Senate committee found that Credit Suisse was accomplice in helping super-wealthy Americans avoid tax revenue, and it failed to report nearly $100 million in secret maritime accounts belonging to the U.S. taxpayer single family.

The investigation comes after a former credit employee who initially reported the bank's illegal activities said tax evasion continued to be “organized after plea agreements and sentences”.