Credit Suisse and UBS facing U.S. Justice Department Russia-sanctions probe

By Davit Kirakosyan

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:) and UBS Group AG (NYSE:) are among the banks under scrutiny in a U.S. Justice Department probe for potentially helping Russian oligarchs evade sanctions, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

Both Swiss banks were recently subpoenaed along with employees from major U.S. banks. According to familiar sources, the Justice Department inquiries aim to identify bank employees who dealt with sanctioned clients and determine if any laws were broken.

Credit Suisse declined to comment and UBS didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Credit Suisse was known for catering to wealthy Russians (managing more than $60 billion for them at its peak) before discontinuing business with individual clients last May.

Banks can face serious penalties for violating U.S. sanctions, such as BNP Paribas (OTC:) agreeing to pay nearly $9B in 2014 for processing transactions for sanctioned Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities. In 2019, Standard Chartered (OTC:) Bank reached a settlement with the Justice Department, agreeing to pay over $1B. The settlement came after a former employee of the bank pleaded guilty to conspiring to breach U.S. sanctions on Iran.