Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS, as well as unnamed U.S. banks, are under investigation by U.S. federal prosecutors for helping Russian oligarchs evade U.S. sanctions, Bloomberg reported. The banks were to receive a summons to provide explanations.
According to the agency, which cites sources inside the case, the calls are related to an investigation into whether employees of financial institutions helped Russian oligarchs circumvent the restrictions imposed on them. The documents were supposed to be sent even before the Credit Suisse crisis, in connection with which it may be taken over by UBS. In addition to banks with Switzerlandthe summons were also to be received by employees of large American banks.
Credit Suisse managed $60 billion of wealthy Russians
Bloomberg reports that the prosecutor’s investigation is focused on identifying employees who have worked with sanctioned customers and how banks screened their customers over the past few years. The agency notes that Credit Suisse was well known for offering services to wealthy Russians, managing their wealth of $60 billion at its peak, bringing in revenues of $500-600 million a year for the bank. In May last year when this cooperation was to end, the amount of assets of the Russians was 33 billion dollars. according to Bloomberg.
The results of the investigation so far
Efforts by the Ministry of Justice to prosecute collaborators of Russian oligarchs who helped them hide assets from sanctions have so far resulted in, among others, the arrests of British businessman Graham Bonham-Carter and the former head of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, Charles McGonigal. Both are accused of helping the metallurgical magnate Oleg Deripaska.
Bloomberg reminds that the penalties for banks for helping to circumvent the sanctions can be severe. BNP Paribas agreed in 2014 to pay USD 9 billion as part of a settlement for conducting transactions involving restricted Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities. For breaking Iranian sanctions by a former employee of Standard Chartered, the institution had to pay 1 billion in 2019.
Main photo source: EPA/NEIL HALL