Credit Suisse charged with helping Americans evade taxes; will pay criminal penalties

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Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, on Monday, May 19, 2014, in Washington. The Justice Department on Monday charged Credit Suisse AG with helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes through offshore accounts, and a person familiar with the matter said the European bank has agreed to pay about .6 billion in penalties. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has charged Credit Suisse AG with helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes through offshore accounts, and a person familiar with the matter says the European bank has agreed to pay about $2.6 billion in penalties.

The charge was filed Monday in a criminal information, which is a charging document that can only be filed with a defendant’s consent and which typically signals a guilty plea.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the guilty plea had not yet been announced.

The penalty resolves a yearslong criminal investigation into allegations that the bank recruited U.S. clients to open Swiss accounts, helped them conceal the accounts from the Internal Revenue Service and enabled misconduct by bank employees.

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