ZURICH– Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) will pay about $475 million to American and British authorities to resolve bribery and fraud charges relating to a $2 billion Mozambican corruption scandal, while its subsidiary pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in New York, U.S. and UK agencies said on Tuesday according to Reuters.
The settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Justice Department and Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the latest blow for the scandal-plagued Swiss bank and was announced just minutes before Switzerland’s financial regulator reprimanded it for a long-running corporate espionage saga.
The U.S. and British charges stem from nearly $1 billion in bond offerings and a syndicated loan Credit Suisse helped to arrange between 2013 to 2016 to finance a tuna fishing industry project in Mozambique. Much of the proceeds were diverted via kickbacks to Credit Suisse bankers and Mozambique officials.
The three former Credit Suisse bankers, along with two middlemen and three Mozambican government officials, were charged in 2018 for money laundering and defrauding U.S. investors who had invested in the loans. U.S. prosecutors said at least $200 million of the loans had been diverted to the eight defendants. The former bankers pleaded guilty in 2019.
Credit Suisse to pay $475 mln to resolve Mozambican scandal charges
