A Credit Suisse unit has been ordered to pay billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili US$742.7 million ($1.01 billion) by a Singapore court as it confirmed that the bank’s trust had failed to safeguard its client’s assets.
The amount was revised down from the US$926 million assessed by the court in May. At the time, the court said the final award would be reduced to avoid double recovery after a Bermuda court last year awarded Ivanishvili more than US$600 million in damages in that case.
The ruling, the first since the troubled bank was taken over by rival UBS Group AG in June, is the latest development in the Singapore chapter of the long-running saga that’s spanned three continents. The case revolves around the case of private banker Patrice Lescaudron who was convicted in 2018 for for running a fraudulent scheme in which he took money from Ivanishvili’s accounts to try and mask growing losses in other, Russian clients’ portfolios.
Credit Suisse said in May that the judgement was “wrong and poses very significant legal issues.” On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the bank said “The Singapore Court’s judgment is not final and, as already communicated in May 2023, Credit Suisse Trust Limited will pursue an appeal. ”
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov 2 at which CS Trust will attempt to stay the judgement against it. Ivanishvili, his wife and three children who are plaintiffs in the case have agreed to not enforce the award until after that date, according to the ruling.
“After several months of disagreement over the amount of damages payable, the court has awarded damages in line with what the plaintiffs’ expert has said all along,” a spokesman for Ivanishvili said in a statement. “With yet another judgment against it, it is disappointing Credit Suisse Group steadfastly refuses to accept responsibility for the crimes perpetrated by its employee or adequately compensates the victims.”
