Credit Suisse Group AG agreed to settle a fraud lawsuit by noteholders of affiliates of National Century Financial Enterprises Inc., Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, was sued last year in federal court in New York by noteholders who claimed the bank, the placement agent, knew or should have known of a $2.9 billion fraud that led to National Century’s collapse in 2002. The Zurich-based bank said yesterday that it will book an after-tax charge of 134 million francs ($141 million) against 2012 financial results, reducing the reported net income for the year to 1.35 billion francs. Ten executives of the Dublin, Ohio-based health-care finance company National Century were convicted of crimes, including former Chief Executive Officer Lance Poulsen, who is serving 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
