Credit Suisse pays Georgia's Ivanishvili $210 Million, Bloomberg reports
Credit Suisse pays Georgia's Ivanishvili $210 Million, Bloomberg reports

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse says it has paid $210 million to date to Georgia’s former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili in a long-running legal dispute, Bloomberg agency reported based on the email sent by the Swiss bank spokesperson.

According to Bloomberg, the statement does not specify the case for which the bank paid the money to Ivanishvili, does not mention an ongoing trial in Singapore, and does not provide a time frame for when the money was paid out.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, according to Bloomberg, sued the bank’s trust unit for $800 million in damages and lost income he claimed he would have generated over the years if his money had been safely invested.

“Patrice Lescaudron was convicted in 2018 for fraud over a scheme he ran to take money from Ivanishvili’s accounts to cover growing losses among other clients’ portfolios. Credit Suisse Trust has consistently argued that its responsibility was limited to the administration of the assets belonging to Bidzina Ivanishvili and that it was the tycoon, or his Georgian business adviser, who called the shots on investment decisions and should be liable for any losses. Lescaudron was a lone wolf who hid his crimes from colleagues, according to the bank. Lee Eng Beng, a lawyer for the trust, conceded on Thursday that Credit Suisse agreed to compensate Ivanishvili for failing to “police the perimeter” of his wealth from theft by Lescaudron from the end of 2008 onward. There is “a duty to compensate for that loss,” he said in his closing arguments, as he sought to limit any broader fallout.

“The duty does not extend to any liability for any losses from investment activity in relation to the assets managed in the trust account,” he added. The stakes for the Singapore trial are high. Ivanishvili in March won a $607 million judgment from a Bermuda court, which ruled a local Credit Suisse life insurance unit there had turned a “blind eye” to Lescaudron’s fraud. CS Life is appealing that decision,” Bloomberg wrote.