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Brady Dougan Says He was Unaware of Tax Evasion

According to Bloomberg News, Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan of the Credit Suisse Group is accused of helping clients hide billions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service, and has now shifted the blame onto a group of employees. Brady Dougan says he was unaware of the tax evasion.

Brady Dougan said at a Senate subcommittee hearing in Washington “While that employee misconduct violated our policies, and was unknown to our executive management, we accept responsibility for and deeply regret these employees’ actions.”

It has been reported that Credit Suisse executives are testifying in response to a Senate investigation subcommittee report that the bank helped more than 22,000 U.S. customers avoid paying U.S. taxes. Market Watch reported that Brady Dougan told senators in written testimony that the bank’s internal investigation found “scattered evidence.” A report was released that said 1,800 Credit Suisse employees had helped Americans open 22,000 accounts, most of which were hidden from the IRS. A criminal probe is being conducted by the justice department.

Reuters reported that Credit Suisse shares were down 2 percent in Zurich. Tax evasion is the illegal evasion of taxes by individuals, corporations and trusts. Tax evasion often entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability and includes dishonest tax reporting, such as declaring less income, profits or gains than the amounts actually earned, or overstating deductions. The Cayman Islands have extensive privacy laws related to banking, and, like Switzerland, officials that break the secrecy law face imprisonment.

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