Credit Suisse, under pressure of the U.S. judiciary in the case of Dan Horsky, has frozen several dozen accounts as it attempts to verify whether the assets have been taxed correctly.
The case of Dan Horsky, a former MBA-lecturer in Bern, has become the catalyzer for some hectic activity at Credit Suisse (CS). CS had again become the target of U.S. authorities' enquiries after the professor pleaded guilty of tax fraud in early November.
Apparently, CS failed to inform the U.S. inland revenue about the 200 million francs on Horsky's accounts.
More Controls
CS now is responding by extending its controls. The bank has frozen assets on dozens of accounts as it wants to clarify if customers still are holding money on their CS accounts that haven't been declared correctly, «Bloomberg» reported.
Switzerland's second-biggest bank in 2014 was convicted in the U.S. and forced to pay a $2.6 billion fine for a similar offense. Following the revelations in the case of Horsky, the concern is that the bank may be deemed a repeat offender.
Criminal Behavior or Lapse of Control
The U.S. is trying to establish whether the failure to reveal the assets belonging to Horsky to the inland revenue was due to a failure of internal controls at CS or a crime involving bankers who acted with the approval of managers, «Bloomberg» reported.
CS didn't comment the report. The bank is verifying whether U.S. citizens are the beneficial owners of the accounts of which the U.S. authorities had no knowledge, according to sources cited by «Bloomberg».
Israel Desk
The bank will have to proof that it didn't knowingly and willingly manage undeclared U.S. assets, but simply overlooked the fact and thus failed to inform the relevant authority.
It will also be probing its Israel desk, which was in charge of managing the Horsky accounts. In the U.S., the regulators, the tax authorities and prosecutors are looking into the matter.
