Dougan took over Credit Suisse in 2007, just in time to catch the worst global financial crisis in decades.

Last year Swiss lawmakers started pressuring him to resign after the bank plead guilty to helping clients evade taxes. The $2.6 billion fine the bank had to pay resulted in its first quarterly loss since 2008.

Pressure was mounting on Dougan from inside the bank too. After he testified on Capitol Hill about the tax evasion matter, a staff group representing Swiss bankers at Credit Suisse and other Swiss banks demanded that he apologize. They said Dougan’s testimony simply served to “vilify lots of employees that had nothing to do with offshore U.S. banking.”

Who knew what and when has been a continuig question in the investigation of banks, money laundering and aiding and abetting income tax evasion.  It is probable that the Department of Justice, the SEC, IRS and White House did not want to force an American banking CEO to plead guilty to criminal activities.

The Senate Committee on Investigations and a posse of legislators in the House and Senate kept insisting that top brass be brought to justice..  It is probable that a foreign bank was picked to take the rap.

Brady Dugan has claimed to have no knowledge of the schemes to aid and abet tax evasion.

When Maxine Waters insisted that the Department of Labor hold hearings on a Credit Suisse exemption from their criminal plea, evidence was submitted that Dougan did in fact know all about these schemes.  Pressure brought by the Labor Department hearing, the outcome of which has not yet been announced, may well have forced his resignation.

Credit Suisse wants the 2 billion US pension business it has been handling.  Proof that Credit Suisse had put aside its “culture of corruption” may have forced Dougan to step down.

It will be interesting to see if the exemption is now granted to Credit Suisse, and the reasons for which it is granted.  Clearly talk has been flying from the DOJ to the White House to the SEC.