Credit Suisse is facing high compensation payments after a lawsuit defeat in Bermuda. A court ruled Tuesday that former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and his family are entitled to “well over $500 million” in damages from a local life insurance subsidiary of the major Swiss bank. Ivanishvili was entitled to it because of years of fraud by a former Credit Suisse client advisor. An exact amount was not initially mentioned.
The bank said the affected subsidiary Credit Suisse Life Bermuda wanted to appeal the verdict. Although provisions have already been made for the case in the past, further provisions are conceivable.
CS Life Bermuda took no or insufficient action to prevent the client advisor’s fraudulent mismanagement because it prioritized the income he generated for Credit Suisse over the interests of its clients, the court said. The consultant was sentenced to five years in prison and to pay around $130 million in damages in 2018 for fraud, counterfeiting and criminal mismanagement by a Geneva court.