Several newspapers reported Sunday that more than 18,000 leaked accounts showed that criminals, alleged human rights abusers and individuals who had been blacklisted by the US government were clients of Credit Suisse.
According to a press release, the leaked information came from a whistle-blower who shared his findings with a German newspaper. The New York Times, Guardian, Le Monde and other media outlets were involved in the newspaper's anti-corruption group.
According to media reports, the second-biggest Swiss bank's clients included an international cast of bad characters. The sons of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, as well as a Yemen spy chief implicated in torture, were account holders.
The accounts were opened from the 1940s into the 2010s according to the Sunday release from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Criminals and corrupt politicians who can afford to keep doing business as usual, no matter what the circumstances are, because they have the certainty that their ill-gotten gains will be kept safe.
According to The New York Times, Swiss banks aren't supposed to accept money linked to criminal activity, but the law is mostly unenforced.
The accusations made about its business practices were strongly rejected by Credit Suisse in a nearly 400 word statement on Sunday.
The matters presented are mostly historical, in some cases dating back as far as the 1940s, and the accounts of these matters are based on partial, inaccurate, or selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank.
The bank said that most of the accounts had been closed before media inquiries began. The remaining accounts were thoroughly scrutinized. Credit Suisse said that it couldn't comment on individual clients and that it had already taken action to address improper clients.
For the past decade, the financial giant has moved from one crisis to another as it came to terms with its role in helping clients launder ill-gotten funds, shelter assets from taxation and aid in corruption.
The bank pleaded guilty to helping Americans file false tax returns and agreed to pay a large amount of fines. The company agreed to pay $475 million for its role in a bribery scheme.
The collapse of supply chain finance firm Greensill and the U.S. hedge fund Archegos forced the firm to replace its CEO and chairman within the past two years.
The reason for protecting financial privacy is a fig leaf that covers the shameful role of Swiss banks as tax evaders.
There is a developing story. You can check back for updates.
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