Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Credit Suisse sued over alleged business related to oligarchs

Reprints
Credit Suisse

(Reuters) — A group of people and entities have filed a class-action lawsuit against Credit Suisse, alleging that the Swiss bank misled investors over business dealings related to Russian oligarchs, law firm Pomerantz LLP said.

Credit Suisse did not comment when contacted by Reuters.

The lawsuit, filed in a New York district court, is on behalf of people and entities who acquired Credit Suisse securities between March 19, 2021, and March 25, 2022, Pomerantz said in a statement issued late Friday.

“The complaint alleges that, throughout the class period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the company's business, operations and compliance policies,” Pomerantz said in the statement.

The law firm alleged disclosure shortcomings around a securitization deal. It cited in its statement a Financial Times story from February in which the newspaper reported that Credit Suisse had securitized a portfolio of loans linked to its wealthiest customers' yachts and private jets, in an unusual use of derivatives to offload the risks associated with lending to ultra-rich oligarchs and entrepreneurs.

The Financial Times said that after the publication of its article, Credit Suisse said in a statement that the transaction “priced in line with other significant risk transactions, offered competitive investment and hedging terms for our professional investor clients while increasing the capital flexibility of the bank.”

The lawsuit also referred to a request made by U.S. lawmakers in March for Credit Suisse to hand over documents related to the financing of yachts and private jets owned by potentially sanctioned individuals.

Credit Suisse stopped pursuing new business in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Swiss bank said March 28 in an internal document seen by Reuters. 

Credit Suisse, which reported a first-quarter loss last week, has been dented by a series of costly hits and a series of legal cases that it has described as legacy matters.