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Reuters

Georgia's Ivanishvili asks UK court to uphold $607 mln ruling against Credit Suisse

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Georgia's former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili on Monday urged a London court to uphold a $607 million Bermudan judgment he won against a Credit Suisse subsidiary over a long-running fraud committed by a former Credit Suisse adviser. Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party who is widely seen as the country's de facto leader, sued the Swiss bank's local life insurance arm in Bermuda to try and recoup losses caused by late banker Patrice Lescaudron. Lescaudron, an adviser at Credit Suisse Trust in Singapore, was convicted by a Swiss court in 2018 of forging signatures of former clients, including Ivanishvili, and admitted falsifying trades and hiding losses. He killed himself in 2020. Ivanishvili and his family successfully sued Bermuda-based Credit Suisse Life and were awarded $607 million in damages by a Bermudan court, which was upheld on appeal in 2023. But Credit Suisse – now owned by rival UBS (UBSG.S), opens new tab – is challenging the ruling at London's Privy Council, the final court of appeal for Bermuda and some other Commonwealth states. Charles Falconer, a lawyer representing CS Life, said in court filings that the Bermudan courts misunderstood its contract with Ivanishvili, meaning the unit was "wrongly held liable for (Credit Suisse AG) failure to manage the assets". CS Life also referred to Ivanishvili being sanctioned by the U.S., opens new tab in December for undermining democracy for Russia's benefit, raising the question of whether Ivanishvili could be paid. Ivanishvili's lawyers, however, say it would have made no sense for him to have transferred over $750 million from Credit Suisse into two life insurance policies with CS Life, but without CS Life having any contractual obligations to him. Ivanishvili has separate litigation against Credit Suisse in Singapore, where he was awarded $926 million, though that sum will be reduced by recoveries and to prevent double recovery.