Billionaire Sues Credit Suisse In Three Courts - Report

Tom Burroughes

31 August 2017

Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has sued Credit Suisse in Singapore, New Zealand and Bermuda, alleging the Zurich-listed bank must have known about the actions of a former employee who forged trades to cover losses from other customers’ accounts.

Ivanishvili, an ex-prime minister of the former Soviet republic, filed the claims in Auckland at the New Zealand High Court on 7 August, then in Bermuda and finally in Singapore on 25 August.

The lawsuits ask courts in the three jurisdictions to force the bank to hand over documents in the Georgian’s case against a Credit Suisse banker and makes unspecified claims for losses that Ivanishvili’s lawyers say they are still calculating.

Credit Suisse confirmed the legal actions to this publication, adding: "Credit Suisse AG has received the statements of claim filed in New Zealand and Singapore. After a first review, the statements of claim do not present any new or previously unknown facts. They are mainly based on the issues/allegations arising out of the criminal proceedings against the former relationship manager in Geneva. Credit Suisse will take appropriate action to defend the claims."

The bank’s compliance and auditing practices will be scrutinised later in 2017 when the former employee of Credit Suisse’s wealth management unit, who can only be identified as “L” under Swiss law, goes on trial in Geneva, according to a report of the matter by Bloomberg. Credit Suisse has repeatedly said that, to the best of its knowledge, the individual acted alone.