Fraud victims aim to shame Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse faced embarrassment on Friday as victims of a $150 million (£116 million) fraud by a rogue employee took a full-page ad in the FT to demand answers and their money back.

The latest campaign against the Swiss investment bank is timed to coincide with its annual meeting today, and is orchestrated by six wealthy Russian victims of ex-Credit Suisse banker Patrice Lescaudron, who was sentenced to five years in prison but released last year.

The victims — including Georgia’s richest man and former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili — are chasing around $850 million more of their money from the bank.

They also accuse Credit Suisse’s directors of “working against our efforts to understand how the crimes were perpetrated and what happened to their assets”.

The advertisement said: “We urge you as their board of directors to start being honest and transparent about what happened”. They are also bidding to gain documents on the case from the bank.

A Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on the ad and referred to previous statements.