UBS set to settle Credit Suisse US tax evasion case, WSJ reports

UBS Group AG is close to making a settlement of at least hundreds of millions of dollars over violations by Credit Suisse of a decade-old agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice related to tax evasion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The settlement could come as soon as this week, the Journal reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter. UBS declined to comment. 

Following a guilty plea in 2014 on conspiring to help U.S. citizens evade taxes, Credit Suisse was obliged to inform authorities on its progress in closing accounts and the destination of funds, the newspaper said. Credit Suisse earlier paid $2.6 billion in fines to the US, but failing to carry out the follow-up actions left it open to further penalties. 

UBS bought Credit Suisse in an emergency rescue in 2023, inheriting a list of legacy legal issues ranging from the Mozambique bribery scandal and a money laundering case related to a Bulgarian cocaine trafficker. 

In 2023, UBS agreed to pay $1.44 billion to settle a long running case of its own in the U.S., related to mortgage backed securities. The bank reached a settlement with Mozambique over that Credit Suisse scandal in 2023. As of the end of the third quarter last year, UBS had some $3.8 billion in provisions for litigation and related matters.