Credit Suisse is facing a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. related to financing yachts and private airplanes of sanctioned persons.
Turbulent waters continue to swirl around Credit Suisse, with a lawsuit filed in the U.S. alleging the bank misled investors over dealing with Russian oligarchs, according to a story from «Reuters» over the weekend.
The complaint alleges «throughout the class period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the company's business, operations, and compliance policies».
The lawsuit was filed in a district court in New York on behalf of clients who acquired Credit Suisse securities between March 19, 2021, and March 25, 2022, and have until June 28 to join the suit.
Yachts and Planes
Pomerantz LLP, the firm filing the suit cited a «Financial Times» (behind paywall) story from February that Credit Suisse securitized a portfolio of loans linked to its wealthiest clients' yachts and private jets using derivatives, allowing the bank to offload the risks from lending to ultra-wealthy oligarchs and entrepreneurs. The loans amounted to about $2 billion.
Following the report in the «Financial Times», Credit Suisse issued a statement the deal «priced in line with other significant risk transactions, offered competitive investment and hedging terms for our professional investor clients while increasing the capital flexibility of the bank.»
Destroy Documents
In addition, the lawsuit also referred to a request from the U.S. government that Credit Suisse provide documents related to the financing.
Credit Suisse subsequently sent letters to investors and hedge funds asking them to «destroy and permanently erase» information the bank previously provided regarding the transactions, as finews.com reported.
Credit Suisse issued a statement saying it «requested non-participating investors to destroy documents relating to the matter, as stipulated in the NDA. Reminding parties to destroy confidential information is good housekeeping and good data hygiene.» It added that no client data was made available to investors, nor had client data been erased with the bank.
