The shortfall is huge. Credit Suisse’s image should be tarnished. Investments made by a financial adviser from one of its subsidiaries in Bermuda caused the loss of 533 million dollars (495 million euros) to the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanichvili.
He filed a complaint, believing that his investments were misappropriated or invested in a non-prudent way, thus preventing him from filling his accounts with this enormous sum. In this case, the actions of a financial adviser (who committed suicide in 2020, after being sentenced by Swiss justice to five years in prison in 2018) are singled out.
The judge found that he had acted fraudulently, placing the investments without asking for the necessary agreements, but also producing false documents or transferring the funds to the accounts of other clients.
The subsidiary of Credit Suisse must also face justice, since it did not do what was necessary to prevent this adviser from working. The judge found that she prioritized the income he generated for the bank, via the interests of customers.
The bank has made reservations in anticipation of the judgment
The bank will therefore be the subject of a judgment, which the parent company has already anticipated by indicating that it has made reserves of more than 500 million dollars if it is ordered to reimburse the shortfall.
The damages that Credit Suisse Life Bermuda will have to pay will however have to be calculated by experts, said the Supreme Court of Bermuda.
The sum of 533 million dollars was advanced by the plaintiff, on the basis of an analysis carried out by a chartered accountant who calculated the difference between the sums brought in by the investments of the financial adviser and those which could have been pocketed if these investments had been made in a medium-risk portfolio.
The Swiss bank said that its subsidiary in Bermuda had been in liquidation for more than seven years and that it intended to appeal the judgment.
