The former Credit Suisse chairman had to stand down after he broke Swiss quarantine regulations. UBS has now sold the corporate jet the Portuguese citizen used to travel.
Banking giant UBS sold Credit Suisse’s corporate jet, which former chairman of the board of directors António Horta Osório used for various trips breaching COVID regulations.
The Dassault Falcon 7X has been sold to a German subsidiary of French banking giant Société Générale that specializes in aircraft leasing, according to documents seen by British financial newspaper the «Financial Times» (paid article). The purchase price is unknown.
To the Wimbledon Finals
Insiders said that the sale had been planned by Credit Suisse’s management team before its rescue by UBS this year. UBS then pushed through the sale.
Flight records show that Horta Osório used the jet to fly to London to watch the Wimbledon tennis finals and the final of soccer’s European Championships on the same day in July 2021.
Credit Suisse’s investigations of Horta Osório’s frequent use of the bank’s corporate jet and breaches of COVID travel restrictions led to his departure as chairman of the board of directors in January 2022, after just nine months.
Credit Suisse Top Management Angered
It was also reported that the corporate jet was used on another trip investigated by the Credit Suisse board of directors, when Horta Osório accompanied another executive on a flight from Singapore to Zurich just ten days after the London trip.
Horta Osório suggested that the jet should stop in the Maldives on the way to refuel, where he disembarked to join his family on vacation, it is said.
Although Horta Osório’s use of the private jet may have angered some members of the board of directors, an internal audit report seen by the newspaper concluded that this use was in line with his predecessor’s and that all additional costs had been repaid.
