Operating a global and globally-inept internal secret police and spying operation may have meant some reputational damage, a new CEO and possibly a regulatory slap on the wrist for Credit Suisse. But the “temporary arrests” of some of its Keystone Kops aside, there has never been the suggestion of something criminal about not-so-surreptitiously monitoring potentially disloyal employees and partners. Laundering money for the Bulgarian mob? That is a different story entirely, even in Switzerland.
The Swiss attorney general’s office said…. flaws in the lender’s controls allowed a Bulgarian criminal organization to launder money through the bank during those years with the help of a bank executive. The organization allegedly recruited a Bulgarian wrestler and others in his orbit for operations transporting drugs and laundering money./The former Credit Suisse executive, who wasn’t named, was charged with aggravated money laundering for allegedly assisting the Bulgarian organization and concealing the criminal origin of assets in transactions at Credit Suisse…. Credit Suisse said it was astonished to be charged and refuted the allegations, including about “supposed organizational deficiencies.” It said it is convinced that the former employee, who left the bank in 2007, is innocent.
Credit Suisse Criminally Charged in Longstanding Money-Laundering Case [WSJ]