A Swiss citizen pleaded guilty on Thursday this week for conspiring to defraud the U.S government while she was working at Credit Suisse AG. Susanne D. Ruegg Meier admitted to a Virginia court that while working at Credit Suisse's North American desk in Switzerland from 2002 to 2011, she aided and conspired to help U.S taxpayers evade paying taxes on their incomes. She did this by concealing the earnings and assets of potential taxpayers in secret Swiss bank accounts.
Susanne managed U.S customer accounts
Susanne managed and supervised the accounts of over 1,000 clients.
She also handled more than 140 client accounts, 95% of those accounts belonged to people living in the United States. The accounts had total assets of over $400 million. She admitted that over $3.5 million in tax revenues were lost due to her misconducts. Susanne also revealed that she traveled twice a year between 2002 and 2008 to the U.S to meet her clients. She mostly met them at the banks New York offices. She also obtained travel account statements and business cards that did not have Credit Swiss logos in order to conceal the reason as to why she was traveling.
How she helped clients evade taxes
Susanne assisted the bank's US customers in concealing their information from U.S tax authority when the bank began closing the accounts of its U.S customers in 2008.
She did this by withdrawing $1 million in cash for customers after they were informed that the bank is planning to close its branches. She also guided clients on how to open bank accounts from other banks by crossing the streets and depositing their cash in other banks. She helped the customers place the money in paper bags as well as exit the bank's New York representative office.
She also advised other clients to open new accounts at specific banks, such as Wegelin & Co. and Bank Frey as well as send their account balances from their Credit Suisse accounts to their new accounts.
Susanne's sentencing is scheduled for September 8. She might be jailed for a maximum of five years. Investigators might also supervise her after she is released.
She might also be required to pay a restitution and penalties.
Credit Suisse past tax evasion crimes
Credit Suisse pleaded guilty in Mid-2014 for assisting taxpayers to file false returns. The bank was fined more than $2 billion in November 2014 for the offense.
The bank's employees and some of its customers were accused of evading taxes in April this year in a probe in five countries. Two people were arrested in Netherlands. Investigators also seized jewelry, a gold bar, and paintings. Those arrested concealed millions of euros from tax authorities in Swiss bank accounts.
