Credit Suisse ‘bankrolled Gupta despite warnings’ from colleagues elsewhere at bank
Executives at Credit Suisse ignored warnings from colleagues about troubled Sanjeev Gupta, pressing ahead with funnelling billions to his business despite others at the bank blacklisting the steel tycoon.
The warnings from one set of executives did not stop others at Credit Suisse transferring $1.2bn of client funds to steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, Bloomberg first reported.
Bankers in Credit Suisse’s commodity trade-finance unit reportedly blacklisted Gupta’s Liberty Commodities in 2016 because they suspected some of its deals were not legitimate, sources told Bloomberg.
When they learned about two years later that the bank was lending to his companies through a suite of investment funds, which eventually grew to $10bn, they flagged their worries to leaders in compliance and the division that housed the loans.
Credit Suisse declined to comment.
A spokesman for the Gupta Family Group Alliance, a collective of businesses linked to Gupta including Liberty Commodities, denied any wrongdoing to Bloomberg.
Earlier this month the Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation into the Gupta Family Group Alliance.
GFG Alliance came under fire after the Greensill collapse showed it had been a recipient of financing based on expected future invoices, for sales that had only been predicted.