LONDON (AP) — Credit Suisse owes former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} for failing to guard the billionaire’s cash in a belief pilfered by a supervisor, a Singapore courtroom dominated Friday, the newest scandal for the Swiss financial institution whose yearslong issues compelled its takeover by a rival.
Ivanishvili in 2004 put greater than $1.1 billion right into a belief overseen by the financial institution’s Singapore subsidiary, Credit Suisse Trust Limited, and the worker managing the belief “misappropriated many millions of dollars” over 9 years earlier than being caught and despatched to jail, the Singapore International Commercial Court stated.
The billionaire businessman, who amassed a fortune in Russia earlier than serving as Georgia’s prime minister from 2012 to 2013, sued the Swiss financial institution for about $1.2 billion, saying it didn’t correctly administer the belief and maintain its belongings protected.
“The judgment published today is wrong and poses very significant legal issues,” Credit Suisse stated in a press release. “Credit Suisse Trust Limited intends to vigorously pursue an appeal.”
The financial institution has beforehand acknowledged that it didn’t take cheap steps to guard the belief’s belongings as of the tip of 2008 and agreed to pay greater than $79.4 million final 12 months in a settlement.
“The defendant is liable to compensate the plaintiffs for their loss,” which has been calculated at $926 million, minus the quantity of the settlement, Judge Patricia Bergin stated in a ruling.
She added that any payout in a associated case in Bermuda have to be lowered so there isn’t “double recovery.”
The financial institution has appealed a choice by the Supreme Court of Bermuda that Credit Suisse failed to stop “fraudulent mismanagement” of Ivanishvili’s belongings in two life insurance coverage insurance policies taken out with Credit Suisse Life, a subsidiary primarily based within the island territory.
Ivanishvili claimed damages of almost $554 million in that case.
The once-venerable Swiss lender has seen a string of scandals through the years that hit the guts of its enterprise, starting from unhealthy bets on hedge funds to failing to stop cash laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine ring and accusations it didn’t report secret offshore accounts that rich Americans used to keep away from paying U.S. taxes.
The Swiss authorities swiftly orchestrated a $3.25 billion takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS in March after Credit Suisse’s inventory plunged and prospects rapidly pulled out their cash, fearing its collapse might additional roil international monetary markets following the failures of two U.S. banks.
UBS is making an attempt to shut the deal shortly. UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher stated this week that Switzerland’s largest financial institution is “worried about cultural contamination” and has used what he dubbed a “culture filter” to find out whom to carry over from Credit Suisse.
The takeover “comes with huge integration risks, but we think once we get through that, the clear value that can be created is very obvious,” he stated Wednesday on the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London.
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