But just over a month later, the banker was shocked to learn in an e-mail that his colleagues in Asia had decided not to make the shift.
As a result, Ivanishvili had missed out on a big gain in stock prices, the banker said, earning far less on his fixed-income holdings.
Investigators hired by Credit Suisse have been unable to confirm this version of events, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Secret Trading
The banker resolved to make up the missing gains in secret.
“From that moment, around April-May, I told myself that all my clients had to make profits so they would stop annoying me with their criticism about lack of performance,” he told bank investigators.
Within weeks, he said, he was actively trading without permission, using Ivanishvili’s credit line to buy about $100 million in Russian stocks and bonds.
“He liked this kind of investment,” he told the bank later. “So I took advantage of the opportunity to buy more of these assets than he wanted.”
With markets around the world surging, he had soon more than made up the missed gains, with returns of as much as 180 percent, he said.
Forging his client’s orders proved easy, the banker would tell his employer after he was discovered. “I simply used a cutout of his signature and put it on the transfer orders, and photocopied the whole thing,” he said.