Barclays Bank Slapped with £700 Million Lawsuit for ‘Fraudulent’ Fundraising

Barclays has been hit with close to a billion pound-lawsuit in relation to £4.6billion worth of capital the bank received from Qatari investors during two fundraising campaigns eight years ago.

Deal broker Amanda Staveley, who arranged the investment deal with Barclays and Abu Dhabi investors in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, is suing the London-based banking and financial services multinational for damages worth approximately £720 million.

The lawsuit alleges Barclays failed to inform its shareholders it had paid its investors with £322 million worth in fees for the £4.6 billion and £ 5.3 billion in two capital infusions, an investigation undertaken by the Serious Fraud Office discovered, BBC reported.

Stavely, who reportedly received between £30 to £40 million for her pivotal involvement in brokering the fundraising deal, has argued that her firm, PCP Capital Partners, should have received the same fees Barclay paid to its Qatari investors.

PCP Capital Partners had also invested as much as £3.5 billion with the bank in 2008 to represent the interest of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan from Abu Dhabi.

The two emergency fundraising campaigns served to deliver Barclays from the same financial predicament that hit Lloyds and HBOS in 2008, but which has come back to trouble the banking and finance giant.

According to Stavely, the fraud claims against Barclay have already been filed with the High Court, This is Money said, but she declined any further comment on the matter.

On the other hand, Barclays representatives maintain the claim is “misconveived and without merit,” insisting the multinational bank will be stringently defending its position, Britain Weekly wrote.

Barclays is not only facing the damages lawsuit from Stavely and PCP, but has also been hit with a £50 million fine courtesy of the Financial Conduct Authority, which said the bank acted "recklessly" in not making a full disclosure to its shareholders about the fees it paid to the Qatari investors.

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