Investigations by Credit Suisse have led to the discovery of hundreds of bank accounts connected to Nazis, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced. According to reports, 890 accounts have been discovered.
Grassley said in his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Credit Suisse “didn’t review and investigate all relevant records regarding its Nazi past and applied excessive scope restrictions to its review.” Some of the accounts discovered remained open until the 1990s, while one remained open in 2020.
After UBS acquired Credit Suisse in 2023, it hired U.S. prosecutor Neil Barofsky to uncover the accounts. Barofsky was originally hired by Credit Suisse, although it terminated him after the investigation “uncovered damaging information.” While the bank initially cited “performance issues” for Barofsky’s termination, Grassley explained, the prosecutor likely “performed all too well.”
“Credit Suisse knew it held Nazi accounts and yet withheld some information from the public record, including commissions examining the Holocaust,” the senator declared, noting that the bank “facilitated the escape networks, known as ratlines, that Nazis used to flee justice following the war.”
“This investigation has reaffirmed that Swiss banks haven’t historically shown neutrality,” Grassley noted. “In fact, they managed to get away with essentially being part of the Axis powers, while not fully paying for the consequences.”
Speaking to reporters, Grassley said the discovered accounts “were once used by individuals or entities who participated in or assisted Nazi war efforts. That includes wartime accounts for the German Foreign Office, a German arms manufacturing company and the German Red Cross.”
In 2023, the Senate Budget Committee obtained records linking Credit Suisse to Nazis.
