LONDON (Reuters) -A Credit Suisse subsidiary on Monday lost its appeal against a lawsuit won by former Georgia prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili over fraud committed by a former adviser, though Ivanishvili’s $607 million of damages will have to be recalculated.
Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and widely considered the country’s de facto leader, sued the Swiss bank’s life insurance business in Bermuda to recoup losses from a long-running fraud by banker Patrice Lescaudron.
“We take note of the decision,” a spokesperson for UBS, which now owns Credit Suisse, said after Monday’s ruling.
Lawyers representing Ivanishvili in London did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Lescaudron, an adviser at Credit Suisse Trust in Singapore, was convicted in 2018 of fraud and forging signatures of former clients, including Ivanishvili. Lescaudron, who was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, killed himself in 2020.
Ivanishvili and his family sued Bermuda-based Credit Suisse Life and were awarded $607 million in relation to about $750 million of premiums under two life insurance policies. The ruling was upheld on appeal in Bermuda in 2023.
Credit Suisse challenged the ruling at London’s Privy Council, the final court of appeal for Bermuda and some other Commonwealth states, arguing that the Bermudan courts had misunderstood its contract with Ivanishvili.
The Privy Council dismissed Credit Suisse’s appeal on liability but ruled that damages should be recalculated on the basis of when the life policies started rather than when assets were transferred. The court did not give a figure for the recalculated damages.
A separate appeal by Ivanishvili and two linked companies seeking damages for fraudulent misrepresentation was also rejected.
In separate litigation against Credit Suisse in Singapore, Ivanishvili was awarded $461 million on appeal, UBS 2025 first-quarter results show.
(Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by David Goodman)
