Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Credit Suisse: fresh legal worries linked to former rogue banker

credit suisse logo
Credit Suisse: not having the best year in its history. © Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Russian oligarch Vitaly Malkin plans to sue Credit Suisse for CHF500 million ($515 million) due to losses caused by a former employee of the bank, according to a newspaper report.

The SonntagsZeitung writes that Malkin is chasing the bank in connection with the shrinking of his fortune between 2007 and 2008. Malkin, a former business partner of ex-Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, also wants Credit Suisse to look in more detail into the activities of its former employee Patrice Lescaudron and to find out what happened to his money.

Lescaudron worked for Credit Suisse in Geneva, where he was responsible for handling wealthy clients from Eastern Europe. After being fired by the bank in 2015, the banker was sentenced to a five-year jail term in 2018 for fraud and forgery. He committed suicide in 2020.

Lone wolf

On Sunday, Credit Suisse told the SonntagsZeitung as well as the AFP news agency that it rejected the allegations raised by Malkin.

The bank said that not only had Lescaudron’s actions “not been damaging” to Malkin and his fortune, but various court cases had concluded that the rogue banker had acted alone and was “not helped by other [Credit Suisse] employees in his criminal activities”.

However, the fallout from the Lescaudron case is not over: in March, a court in Bermuda ruled that Ivanishvili had suffered losses of $553 million due to the banker’s placements – a verdict Credit Suisse plans to appeal. And earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the Geneva public prosecutor had identified eight suspicious transactions between 2008 and 2014, which he believes were laundered through Credit Suisse, and which could be grounds for a legal indictment brought against the bank.

More

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Swiss researchers get closer to an effective malaria vaccine

More

Swiss researchers make progress on malaria vaccine

This content was published on A Swiss research team has come one step closer to developing an effective malaria vaccine. They have genetically modified the malaria parasite so that it cannot cause malaria.

Read more: Swiss researchers make progress on malaria vaccine
Locarno launches Peace Prize to mark its 100th anniversary

More

Peace Prize launched to mark centenary of Locarno Treaties

This content was published on To mark the 100th anniversary of the Locarno Treaties, the Swiss city of Locarno has launched a Peace Prize in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival. This will be presented for the first time in August.

Read more: Peace Prize launched to mark centenary of Locarno Treaties
EPFL: a robot that changes shape to adapt to the terrain

More

Swiss-built robot changes shape to adapt to terrain

This content was published on Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a bioinspired robot capable of changing shape according to its environment.

Read more: Swiss-built robot changes shape to adapt to terrain

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR