Credit Suisse Leak Reveals Over 18,000 Accounts Linked to Criminals

Over the weekend several newspapers had reported that over 18,000 leakd accounts showed criminals, alleged human rights abusers, and sanctioned individuals being clients of Swiss bank Credit Suisse.

The massive leak revealed information that covered accounts holding more than $100 billion. The leak came from a whistle-blower who shared his findings with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, according to a press release.

The Sunday release from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed that the accounts had been opened from the 1940s into the 2010s.

Newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung then involved an anti-corruption group and 46 other media outlets around the world, including The New York Times, Guardian, Le Monde and others.
Credit Suisse account holders included a Yemeni spy chief implicated in torture, Venezuelan officials involved in a corruption scandal, and the sons of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

“I’ve too often seen criminals and corrupt politicians who can afford to keep on doing business as usual, no matter what the circumstances, because they have the certainty that their ill-gotten gains will be kept safe,” Paul Radu, co-founder of the OCCRP, said in the statement.

“Our investigation exposes how these people can bypass regulation despite their crimes, to the detriment of democracies and people all over the world.”
Credit Suisse said in a statement on Sunday that it “strongly rejects” the accusations made about its business practices.

“The matters presented are predominantly historical, in some cases dating back as far as the 1940s, and the accounts of these matters are based on partial, inaccurate, or selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank’s business conduct,” the bank said.

About 90% of the accounts in the leak had been closed or were in the process of being closed before media inquiries began, the bank said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.