Big news from The New York Times:
Credit Suisse is about to do what no other huge bank has done in over two decades: plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing.
In a sign that global banking giants are no longer immune from criminal charges — despite public concerns that financial institutions have grown so large and interconnected that they are “too big to jail” — federal prosecutors demanded that Credit Suisse’s parent company plead guilty to helping thousands of American account holders hide their wealth and evade taxes.
...
As part of a deal that the Justice Department is expected to announce, the Swiss bank agreed to plead to one count of conspiring to aid tax evasion. Credit Suisse, which has a giant investment bank in New York and whose chief executive is an American, will also pay about $2.6 billion in penalties and hire an independent monitor for up to two years.
The severe rebuke from federal prosecutors — as well as from the Federal Reserve and New York State’s banking regulator, Benjamin M. Lawsky, who agreed to punish the bank without shutting it down — stems in part from Credit Suisse’s failure to fully cooperate with the United States government.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/...
That's a fine start. Now, moving on to Citibank, Chase, Wells Fargo and the rest of the Too Big to Fail monster banks.
Unfortunately, part of deal is that Credit Suisse doesn't have to release the names of the clients they helped evade taxes. Sleep easy tonight, Mitt Romney.