July Indictments

Seven Credit Suisse bankers, including the former head of North American offshore banking, Markus Walder, were indicted that day in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on a charge of helping U.S. clients evade taxes through secret accounts.

"Credit Suisse is committed to a fully compliant cross- border business," the bank said in that statement. "Subject to our Swiss legal obligations and throughout this process we will continue to cooperate with the U.S. authorities in an effort to resolve these matters."

Since 2008, the U.S. has filed criminal tax charges against more than three dozen former U.S. clients of Zurich-based UBS, Credit Suisse, and London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank. Most of those clients have pleaded guilty.

On Sept. 4, SonntagsZeitung reported that Switzerland had until Sept. 6 to provide the U.S. with data as part of the Justice Department's criminal probe into Credit Suisse.

Requesting Information

The U.S. was requesting information about accounts held by thousands of Americans in 10 banks including Credit Suisse, the Zurich-based newspaper reported, citing correspondence between Michael Ambuehl, the state secretary to the Swiss finance ministry, and James Cole, the U.S. deputy attorney general.

Also among the 10 banks are HSBC, Julius Baer Group Ltd., Wegelin & Co., Basler Kantonalbank and Zuercher Kantonalbank, a person familiar with inquiries sent to them by U.S. prosecutors said. The person, who declined to say whether the ten banks include those under grand jury investigation, requested anonymity because the matter isn't public.

Jan Vonder Muehll, a spokesman for Julius Baer in Zurich, declined to comment on the probe, as did Albena Bjorck, a spokeswoman for Wegelin in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Michael Buess, a spokesman for Basler Kantonalbank in Basel, and Lisa Baitup, a spokeswoman for HSBC in London. A spokesman for Zuercher Kantonalbank declined to immediately comment on the U.S. investigation.

U.S. Grand Juries

U.S. grand juries, which normally consist of 16 to 23 members, meet in secret. Federal prosecutors present evidence for grand jurors to determine whether there is probable cause that an individual or a business committed a crime and should be put on trial. If a grand jury decides there is enough evidence, it can issue an indictment.