Credit Suisse accused of covering up Nazi gold links

Credit Suisse has been accused of hampering an investigation into its links to the Nazis that revealed dozens of previously undisclosed accounts.

A review launched by the Swiss lender has an “unnecessarily rigid and narrow scope”, according to the Budget Committee of the US Senate, which added that an independent ombudsman brought in to oversee the investigation had been “inexplicably terminated”.

Credit Suisse – which was rescued from collapse last month through an emergency merger with rival UBS – launched the review in 2020 following allegations by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, that thousands of Nazis fleeing justice after World War II had used it to hide money.

Senator Chuck Grassley said: “When it comes to investigating Nazi matters, righteous justice demands that we must leave no stone unturned. Credit Suisse has thus far failed to meet that standard.”

Reports obtained by the committee show Credit Suisse maintained accounts for at least 99 individuals who were either senior Nazi officials or members of Nazi-affiliated groups in Argentina.

The vast majority of those accounts were previously undisclosed, while some remained open until as recently as 2002.

Among the accounts identified were one that belonged to a Nazi commander who was later sentenced at Nuremberg and another belonging to an SS commander who was convicted.

Credit Suisse appointed forensic research firm AlixPartners to lead the investigation while Neil Barofsky, a partner at law firm Jenner & Block, was brought in as an independent ombudsman.

Mr Barofsky was removed from the case in November. While he was originally tasked with producing a public report on his findings, the Senate committee only obtained the document after issuing a subpoena.