UNITED STATES: On Friday, Barclays Plc was sued in a proposed class action lawsuit in the United States by shareholders who claimed they had been duped into buying debt worth $17.6 billion more than authorities had authorized.
Two Florida pension plans have sued Barclays in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claiming that the bank is liable for price drops in its American depositary receipts as the cost of the error increased.
According to the complaint, Barclays’ claims that its internal controls over financial reporting were “materially false and misleading” in its annual reports.
It also claimed that by omitting the over issuance in its 2021 earnings announcements, the bank exaggerated profit while understating operating and “litigation and conduct” expenses. Barclays opted not to respond. Among the other defendants are C.S. Venkatakrishnan, the chief executive, and Jes Staley, his predecessor.
The bank said in March that it had offered $15.2 billion more structured and exchange-traded notes than the $20.8 billion U.S. regulators had approved. The bank upped the amount that was oversold by $2.4 billion in July.
On July 28, Barclays announced it had put aside roughly 1.59 billion pounds (now $1.73 billion) for the over issuance and offered to purchase back the excess assets. On September 15, the bank said that claims from investors covering $7 billion in securities had been made.
The City of North Miami Beach Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement Plan and City of North Miami Beach General Employees’ Retirement Plan filed a lawsuit on Friday to recover damages for holders of Barclays ADRs from February 18, 2021, through March 25, 2022.
Barclays Plc et al. v. City of North Miami Beach Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement Plan et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-08172.
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