US Senate probes 890 alleged Credit Suisse Nazi-linked accounts

UBS is now answering for Credit Suisse, which it took over in 2023. Keystone / Michael Buholzer

A United States Senate committee investigating WWII Nazi links with Swiss banks suspects that 890 Credit Suisse accounts were tied to the Hitler regime.

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Some of the suspicious accounts remained open until 2020 and the existence of others has only recently become known, a hearing of the Judiciary Committee in Washington announced on Tuesday.

+Read more about the Holocaust assets controversy

The former Swiss bank Credit Suisse managed money belonging to the German foreign ministry, a German arms manufacturer, and the German Red Cross, according to Senator Chuck Grassley, who is overseeing the investigation led by former prosecutor Neil Barofsky.

Investigations have revealed that Credit Suisse’s ties to the SS were more extensive than previously thought, the Republican congressman added. The SS economic office is said to have held an account at the bank that helped Nazis escape to Argentina.

Grassley also accused the now-defunct banking institution of withholding information during investigations conducted since the 1990s.

Report by end of year

UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse in 2023, is now being called upon to provide information. Testifying on Tuesday, its US director, Robert Karofsky, said the bank had always cooperated with the investigation and that it wanted the full truth to come out.

Karofsky also stated that the financial issues had been settled in 1999, with an agreement reached as part of the dormant accounts scandal. “Credit Suisse and UBS agreed to pay $1.25 billion, an unprecedented sum at the time, which was distributed to Holocaust victims and their heirs,” the banker said.

The ongoing Senate investigation is expected to conclude this summer, and its final report is due by the end of this year.

Adapted from French by AI/mga

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