Fed Bars Indicted Former Credit Suisse Bankers From Industry
The Federal Reserve barred Markus Walder, the former head of North America offshore banking at Credit Suisse Group AG, and four other previously indicted ex-bankers at the company from employment in the banking industry.
The five were indicted for conspiracy to defraud the U.S government by assisting U.S. citizens’ evasion of federal income taxes through the creation and maintenance of bank accounts that weren’t declared to U.S. tax authorities, the Fed board said in a statement Monday in Washington.
The board said last May that it would investigate the individuals for failure to comply with several federal banking laws, the Fed said in a statement. The Board of Governors vote was 5-0 on April 3.
Walder, Marco Parenti Adami, Susanne Ruegg Meier, Michele Bergantino, and Roger Schaerer were indicted for assisting clients “in evading U.S. taxes through the use of undeclared Swiss accounts,” the Fed said on Monday. Walder and others were charged by the U.S. Justice Department in 2011.
The Fed said it found that continued participation by the five bankers with a depository institution “would impair public confidence in the institution,” the statement said. The ban is effective indefinitely, unless the criminal charges against the individuals are dismissed, the central bank said.
