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The consensus on Twitter is that a $2.6 billion fine for helping wealthy Americans evade taxes is not punishment enough for the Swiss banking giant.
May 20 -
By prosecuting executives responsible for banks' misdeeds, the DOJ can curtail illegal activity and restore public trust in big banks and in the law itself.
February 25
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board said Monday that it was barring five Swiss bankers from participating in the U.S. banking industry in connection with Credit Suisse's 2014 tax evasion settlement with the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department.
The Fed used its prudential authority under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to bar the five bankers all of whom had been indicted by a grand jury in 2011 from "participating in any manner in the conduct of the affairs of any insured depository institution, holding company thereof, foreign bank" until either the indictment is disposed of or the Fed terminates its prohibition.
The five bankers include two former Credit Suisse executives: Markus Walder, managing director of offshore banking operations, and Marco Adami, senior manager and private banker. The others are Susanne Ruegg Meier, Roger Schaerer and Michele Bergantino, private bankers who "provided banking and investment advice to U.S. customers who maintained undeclared Swiss bank accounts," the Fed said. All five are Swiss nationals except Schaerer, who holds dual U.S.-Swiss citizenship.
The ban comes as part of Credit Suisse's May 19, 2014, settlement of tax evasion charges from the IRS and Treasury, in which the bank was assessed $2.6 billion in penalties. The Fed said that the five bankers' continued participation in the banking sector would "threaten to impair the public confidence in Credit Suisse" after the indictment "generated, and will likely continue to generate, adverse publicity for Credit Suisse."
