Credit Suisse has been ordered to pay damages to Georgian oligarch Ivanishvili in Singapore. But the bank won’t admit defeat yet.
A Singapore court has ordered Credit Suisse to pay Georgian billionaire Bidsina Ivanishvili hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation, as «Bloomberg» reported Friday. The move marks another setback for the bank in its legal battle with the Georgian oligarch.
Trust Assets
Ivanishvili sued the bank's fiduciary department over damages and lost income he would have earned if his money had been invested safely at the bank. A unit based in Singapore, called Credit Suisse Trust, breached its duty to the plaintiffs by failing to protect the trust assets, the news report said, citing a ruling published Friday.
Credit Suisse said it would appeal the verdict, which has not yet been finalized. The court put the damages at $926 million but revised that figure downward by $79.4 million.
Bermuda Verdict
A Bermuda court awarded Ivanishvili more than $600 million in damages last year. Credit Suisse has appealed the ruling and is awaiting a verdict.
In mid-February 2023, the bank had said it had transferred 210 million to Ivanishvili.
Lone Wolf
Friday's ruling in Singapore underscores Credit Suisse Trust's failure to prevent Geneva-based Credit Suisse banker Patrice Lescaudron from accessing trust assets.
Lescaudron, now deceased, was dismissed from Credit Suisse in 2015 and sentenced to prison for fraud in Geneva in 2018. He diverted money from Iwanischwili's accounts to cover mounting losses in other clients' portfolios.
Credit Suisse, classified as an aggrieved party in the case, repeatedly stressed that Lescaudron acted on his own accord.
Proximity to Russia
The former Georgian prime minister is accused in Ukraine of maintaining close ties with people close to the Kremlin and supporting them financially.
