Credit Suisse Ordered To Pay $926-M To Georgia's Ex-Premier

Credit Suisse was ordered to pay $926 million to Georgia’s former prime minister Friday for losing part of his fortune in a Singapore court ruling that represents one of the biggest legal awards made against the bank, Reuters reported.

Photo Insert: Billionaire businessman Ivanishvili, who was Georgia’s prime minister from 2012 to 2013, had placed $1.1 billion under the custodianship of Credit Suisse Trust in 2005

Singapore’s International Commercial Court said a unit of Credit Suisse had not acted in good faith and neglected to keep the assets of Bidzina Ivanishvili safe, in the latest blow to the troubled bank, which is being taken over by UBS.

Credit Suisse said it would appeal the decision. Billionaire businessman Ivanishvili, who was Georgia’s prime minister from 2012 to 2013, had placed $1.1 billion under the custodianship of Credit Suisse Trust in 2005, the court heard, CNN also reported.

Ivanishvili’s lawyers Cavinder Bull and Woo Shu Yan from the law firm Drew & Napier said Credit Suisse Trust’s failings had led to fraudulent mismanagement and substantial losses.

In its judgment published Friday, the court said the bank had failed to safeguard Ivanishvili’s assets. It should have prevented Patrice Lescaudron, an adviser at Credit Suisse Trust in Singapore who was later convicted of fraud, from having access to them.

Lescaudron was convicted by a Swiss court in 2018 of forging the signatures of former clients, including Ivanishvili, over an eight-year period. He admitted falsifying trades and hiding losses in a scheme that made him tens of millions of Swiss francs. He was released in 2019 and killed himself in 2020.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic