Credit Suisse's US$2.6b tax evasion plea deal faces last hurdle

New York

CREDIT Suisse AG's US$2.6 billion plea bargain resolving allegations it helped wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes faces a final hurdle from a federal judge who will decide whether to accept it or throw it out.

The first global bank in more than a decade to plead guilty to a crime in a US court, Zurich-based Credit Suisse is slated to be sentenced on Friday by US District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk, Virginia. Under the agreement prosecutors reached with the bank, the judge is bound to either impose the terms as the sentence or throw out the entire deal, according to the government.