Troubled banking giant Credit Suisse is facing fresh allegations that it has not fully resolved a quarter-century after it agreed to participate in a $1.25 billion settlement of Holocaust survivor lawsuits informed of the extent of his historic help to Nazis. The Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday released two reports it obtained from an investigation commissioned by Credit Suisse into banking activities by German Nazis who went to Argentina in the 1930s. One of the reports was written by Neil M. Barofsky, a lawyer hired by the bank to oversee the investigation, but who was fired in November after the scope was expanded to include Nazis who left Europe at the end of World War II had fled. The committee obtained a copy of the report after issuing a subpoena for it last month, when Credit Suisse was on the brink of collapse. “Credit Suisse’s decision to drop its investigation midway has left many questions unanswered, including questions about the thoroughness of its previous investigative efforts, the extent to which they served Nazi interests, and the bank’s role in serving Nazis who… fleeing justice after the war,” he said. Barofsky wrote. The dispute shows that eight decades after World War II, understanding of how Swiss banks funded Nazis is still incomplete. The issue also remains deeply controversial, adding to the turmoil Credit Suisse has faced in recent weeks amid the global banking panic that prompted its rival UBS to agree to a roughly $3.2 billion purchase. The Budget Committee launched an investigation after the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group named after a famous Nazi hunter, contacted Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, about the incidents in February. Credit Suisse officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. But in talks with the committee, bank officials denied any wrongdoing and said they were determined to pursue the historical truth of what happened when there was more to learn than multiple investigations uncovered in the 1990s, global consensus notwithstanding people familiar with the matter said they were involved at the time.
via worldtimestoday: Beleaguered Swiss bank accused of obstructing hunt for accounts linked to Nazis