US Senate: Swiss Credit Suisse serviced Nazi accounts until 2020

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse has found information about more than 100 previously unknown accounts belonging to or associated with the Nazis. Some of these accounts were active until 2020.

Source. This is stated in the statement of the US Senate Budget Committee.

Credit Suisse initiated an internal investigation after human rights activists accused the bank of opening accounts for the Nazis, particularly after World War II, and failing to disclose information about them even during Holocaust-related investigations. The investigation was conducted by a firm hired by the bank, under the supervision of an independent ombudsman, who was, however, removed without explanation during the inspection.

"The information we have received shows that the bank set an overly rigid and narrow framework during the investigation and refused to investigate new evidence discovered during the review," said Budget Committee member Chuck Grassley. According to him, the bank has agreed to conduct a new investigation.

The consulting firm AlixPartners has promised that the additional audit will find out what amounts were in accounts belonging to the Nazis after 1945, as well as examine the alleged role of Credit Suisse in supporting Nazi criminals who were hiding from justice.

The Zurich-headquartered bank issued a statement claiming that the investigation has not found evidence of the main accusation made by the human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center.

This accusation concerns the fact that Credit Suisse's accounts held money taken from Holocaust victims.

In 1998, the Credit Suisse Group and Union Bank of Switzerland AG, which had been threatened with sanctions by the United States, agreed to pay $1.25 billion in a class action lawsuit related to Nazi accounts.