Lawsky sends subpoena to Credit Suisse over tax evasion - source

According to a person who had knowledge of the matter, the New York Department of Financial Services has sent a subpoena to Credit Suisse Group AG as the former investigates on whether the bank had a hand in helping clients evade state taxes. NYDFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky was seeking records from the New York operations of the bank, which include emails, calendars, travel records, hard drive material and payroll information, the unnamed person told Bloomberg.

More specifically, the source, who wish not to be identified as the probe is confidential, said that Lawsky is looking for information on former Credit Suisse top manager Roger Schaerer and on executives who have worked with him.

Schaerer, who possesses both US and Swiss citizenship, had supervised Credit Suisse's New York office beginning 1999 until 2008, according to a 2011 federal indictment. The indictment also said that he was promoted to director at the business unit in 2004, and serviced undeclared accounts of clients as the senior representative in the US at that time.

Bloomberg said that Schaerer and former Credit Suisse head of North American offshore banking Markus Walder were charged with making flase statements about the bank's undeclared US cross-border banking business and the unit's role in it to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The two have yet to respond to the accusations in court, the news agency said.

Lawsky reportedly opened the prove last month, and have asked the bank for pertinent documents and materials gathered by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the US Senate, who also has examined the bank. Bloomberg noted that Lawsky has the power to revoke the bank's license to operate in New York even though that he and his office has no authority to file criminal charges against Credit Suisse. On the other hand, the news agency said that alone and the possibility that he can refer findings to the attorney general of the state.

Credit Suisse company spokesman Jack Grone said that the bank is fully cooperating with Lawsky and the NYFDS. Schaerer's lawyer, Jodi Avergun, did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment about the probe.

Tags

Benjamin Lawsky, New York Department of Financial Services, Credit Suisse Group AG

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