Credit Suisse accused of obstructing Nazi accounting investigation

Credit Suisse has been accused by the United States of obstructing investigations into several previously unknown secret Nazi bank accounts. The allegations are at the center of an internal investigation into the Swiss bank after the Simon Wiesenthal Center disclosed new information about Nazi-linked accounts to the bank in 2020.

Although Credit Suisse initially agreed to the investigation, the bank used an “unnecessarily strict and limited scope” and refused to follow the new guidelines. The US Senate Budget Committee said in a statement that an independent ombudsman was also not allowed to monitor.

“When prosecuting Nazi cases, justice demands that no stone be left unturned. So Credit Suisse fell far short of that standard,” Sen. Chuck Grassley wrote in the report.

Reports stemming from an investigation obtained by subpoena indicate that Credit Suisse maintained the accounts of at least 99 people who were senior Nazis in Germany or members of Nazi-affiliated groups in Argentina. Most of these bills have not come to light before and some were in use till recently.

Credit Suisse said in a statement on its website that the main claims of the Simon Wiesenthal Center were not supported by research. The bank said the former ombudsman’s report contained “numerous factual errors, false and redundant statements and baseless allegations based on an incomplete understanding of the facts”.

The bank says it “strongly rejects this misrepresentation” and is “cooperating fully” with the US Budget Committee’s investigation. Almost a quarter of a century ago, Credit Suisse had already reached a settlement with the victims of the Holocaust. The scandal-hit Swiss bank was saved from collapse last month by its larger Swiss rival UBS.