S’pore court orders Credit Suisse unit to pay Georgian tycoon Ivanishvili $1 billion

A Credit Suisse unit has been ordered to pay former Georgian politician and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili US$742.7 million (S$1 billion) by a Singapore court as it confirmed that the bank’s trust had failed to safeguard its client’s assets. 

The amount was revised down from the US$926 million

assessed by the court in May.

At the time, the court said the final award would be reduced to avoid double recovery after a Bermuda court last year awarded Mr Ivanishvili more than US$600 million in damages in that case.

The ruling, the first since the troubled bank was

taken over by rival UBS Group in June,

is the latest development in the Singapore chapter of the long-running saga that has spanned three continents. The case revolves around the case of private banker Patrice Lescaudron, who was convicted in 2018 for running a fraudulent scheme in which he took money from Mr Ivanishvili’s accounts to try and mask growing losses in other Russian clients’ portfolios. 

Credit Suisse said in May that the judgment was “wrong and poses very significant legal issues”. On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the bank said “The Singapore Court’s judgment is not final and, as already communicated in May 2023, Credit Suisse Trust Limited will pursue an appeal. ” BLOOMBERG