Those Pure Swiss Banks

The Swiss banks are famous for being neutral in World War II. So neutral that the Nazis never invaded Switzerland. But some banks like Credit Suisse had cozy arrangements with Germany. Credit Suisse was bought buy UBS, which will soon pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the US Justice Department because of Credit Suisse’s relationship with Nazis in WWII.

But that wasn’t all that Credit Suisse did. In 2014 they pleaded guilty to helping thousands of Americans cheat on their taxes. For many years bankers from Credit Suisse opened offshore trusts for U.S. citizens and hand-delivered cash to them so they could hide their assets from the IRS and wouldn’t have to pay taxes.

In 2014 Credit Suisse decided to go legal. They paid $2.6 billion to the U.S. government to settle its claims. In the pleas agreement the bank promised to root out any other American illegal accounts. Why did it do this? Because if it didn’t it would be barred from banking in the U.S. They would lose more money being banned than they gained from helping American s cheat on their taxes. So they abandoned their American clients who who, for many years, they’d lured into their schemes. However, the bank did do them one favor.  Credit Suisse was supposed to immediately report all the closed accounts to U.S. authorities. But they delayed and delayed so the clients would have time to move their money to other offshore banks.

In 2014 a former UBS employee said the bank was still concealing illegal accounts. Organizations in Switzerland have stood for humanitarian assistance and peace in the world. Apparently one of the ways they fund their principles is through criminal alliances.