The resolution ends a long-running scandal involving Credit Suisse, which used Swiss bank secrecy laws to help Americans hide money from the IRS for decades. Even after reaching a 2014 deal where it pledged to stop the practice, Credit Suisse helped US taxpayers open and maintain accounts they didn’t declare to the IRS, hiding their assets and income.
UBS Group AG agreed to pay US$511 million ($659.34 million) to settle a US investigation into how Credit Suisse Group, the Swiss bank it bought, helped rich Americans evade taxes even after pledging to stop the practice a decade ago.
A Credit Suisse unit pleaded guilty to conspiring to help its customers hide more than US$4 billion from the Internal Revenue Service in at least 475 offshore accounts, the Justice Department said. The US also filed a criminal charge related to US accounts booked at Credit Suisse AG Singapore, which it will drop if the bank cooperates sufficiently.
