cocaine-smuggling Bulgarian wrestler and briefcases stuffed with banknotes are hampering scandal-weary Credit Suisse’s bid to return to boring banking.
Swiss prosecutors can press criminal charges against banks if they believe those institutions didn’t do enough to screen clients and their cash for obvious ties to illicit activity. The former Credit Suisse manager, who can only be named as E under Swiss reporting restrictions, accepted deposits of used bank notes that regularly exceeded €500,000 at a time, according to the 515-page indictment.
Credit Suisse said in a pre-trial statement that it “unreservedly rejects as meritless all allegations in this legacy matter raised against it and is convinced that its former employee is innocent.” The trial comes as the 166-year-old bank has staggered from one setback to another.
Credit Suisse expressed its “astonishment” in late 2020 when Swiss prosecutors publicly charged it with money laundering offenses, given the alleged crimes took place between 2004 and 2008. From 2002 to 2012, he organised the import of tens of tonnes of cocaine into Europe, using boats, planes and drug mules willing to swallow cocaine-packed rubber balls. He was sentenced to a 20-year prison sentence in Italy in 2017, and also convicted by courts in Romania and Bulgaria.