Credit Suisse is under renewed scrutiny by U.S. tax authorities, this time related to its operations in Israel. The bank is said to have opened its own internal investigation.
The U.S. Justice Department recently notified Switzerland's second-biggest bank of the investigation, «The Wall Street Journal» reported today. The tax authorities are interested in the bank's dealings with dual Israeli and U.S. citizens by the branch in Israel.
The investigation will try to establish whether staff in Israel helped customers conceal their U.S. status which makes them subject to U.S. taxes.
A Never-Ending Story
The new probe by the U.S. authorities comes two years after Credit Suisse (CS) pleaded guilty to helping U.S. citizens evade taxes and agreed to pay $2.6 billion as part of the settlement.
According to the report by «The Wall Street Journal», CS has opened its own internal investigation into the matter. The new report is water on the mills of Tidjane Thiam, the bank's chief executive, who assumed power roughly a year ago. He has tried to make the bank less exposed to risks, curbing investment banking – and thus prompted an all too public revolt by staff on Wall Street.
Suspensions
The bank has now suspended five of its employees, «Schweiz am Sonntag» (paywall) newspaper reported this week. The five are being probed by the IRS tax investigators, verifying claims they helped evade U.S. citizens pay taxes.
