Credit Suisse became the first financial institution in more than a decade to plead guilty to a crime Monday when the Swiss bank admitted it conspired to aid tax evasion and agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle a long-running probe by the U.S. Justice Department.
Attorney General Eric Holder, in announcing the charges, said the bank engaged in an "extensive and wide-ranging" scheme to help wealthy Americans hide assets.
The criminal charge filed Monday in federal court outlined a decadeslong, concerted attempt by Credit Suisse to "knowingly and willfully" help thousands of U.S. clients open accounts and conceal their "assets and income from the IRS." Mr. Holder said the bank destroyed account records sent to the U.S. for client review, concealed transactions and "failed to take even the most basic steps to ensure compliance with tax laws."
And I'm sure it gets worse. I'll bet you dollars to doughnut holes that the Department at no point advised the defendant of the right to appointed counsel if it could not afford one.
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