Credit Suisse Ignored Warning on $2 Billion Deal With Tycoon - Bloomberg

Credit Suisse Ignored Warning on $2 Billion Deal With Tycoon - Bloomberg:

Credit Suisse Group AG ignored warnings from its outgoing regional chief executive officer on the risks of lending $2 billion to Mozambique in a scandal that has landed the Swiss bank in a lawsuit and opened up questions about its due diligence.

A legal filing from Credit Suisse published last week has revealed that Fawzi Kyriakos-Saad, at the time the chief of the bank’s EMEA business, warned a group of dealmakers not to proceed with the initial stage of the multi-billion dollar financing.

It’s the first time the lender has confirmed that its managers had misgivings about the transaction, which ultimately generated a number of deals for the bank.

The money was meant to provide for a new coastal patrol force and develop a tuna fishing fleet for one of the world’s poorest countries. But the fundraisings would ultimately come to the attention of U.S. prosecutors who alleged that the contracts were a front for government officials and Credit Suisse’s own bankers to enrich themselves by as much as $200 million.