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UBS Group has agreed to pay $511m to resolve a US investigation into its subsidiary, Credit Suisse Group, regarding its role in facilitating tax evasion for wealthy Americans.
This settlement follows a guilty plea from Credit Suisse Services, which admitted to conspiring to conceal over $4bn from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through at least 475 offshore accounts.
As part of the settlement, Credit Suisse Services has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
This agreement requires the company to assist in ongoing investigations and pay penalties related to US accounts managed at Credit Suisse Singapore.
It mandates cooperation with the Justice Department concerning US taxpayers who used offshore accounts to evade tax obligations.
The plea agreement indicates that from 1 January 2010, to approximately July 2021, Credit Suisse conspired with employees and US clients to hide asset ownership at the bank.
This scheme allowed US clients to evade tax responsibilities by maintaining undeclared offshore accounts and receiving private banking services that concealed their income from the IRS.
Credit Suisse bankers engaged in fraudulent activities, including falsifying records and processing unsubstantiated donation paperwork, while managing over $1bn in accounts without proper tax compliance documentation.
From 2014 to June 2023, Credit Suisse Singapore managed undeclared accounts for US individuals, totalling over $2bn in assets.
The bank failed to identify the true beneficial owners of these accounts and did not conduct adequate inquiries regarding US tax obligations.
Following the merger of UBS Singapore and Credit Suisse Singapore in 2023, UBS identified several undeclared US accounts, froze them, and voluntarily reported this information to the Justice Department while cooperating in the investigation.
In March this year, UBS received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to sell a 36.01% stake in Credit Suisse Securities (China) Limited (CSS) to Beijing State-owned Assets Management (BSAM).
UBS will retain a 14.99% stake in the China unit.
"UBS to pay $511m to settle Credit Suisse tax evasion case" was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.
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