Australia’s public prosecutor has pulled out a case against Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and several former executives over a A$2.5 billion share issuance in 2015.
The public prosecutor’s office has withdrawn the case after nearly four years of pre-trial hearings, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which was first to refer the matter to the prosecutor.
No reason was given by the ACCC for the withdrawal.
«We respect the independent decision of the [Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions], and with them will consider what lessons can be learnt from this matter,» said ACCC chair Rod Sims in a statement.
Unsold Shares
The case is based on phone calls in 2015 about a A$2.5 billion ($1.8 billion) stock issuance between multiple banks.
The banks discussed unissued shares they were left holding and staff were heard saying they would withhold from selling to prevent a sharp supply increase that could cause the price to fall.
Also on the calls was J.P. Morgan, which notified regulators about the issue in exchange for immunity on legal advice, according to its staff at the hearings, though they said they never viewed the discussions as improper.
The prosecutor had been ordered to rewrite its indictment twice by the Federal Court of Australia and also narrowed the scope of the lawsuit in recent months, dropping charges against the client for the stock issue, ANZ and its treasurer.
The latest move to withdraw the case would mark an end to what would have been Australia’s biggest white-collar criminal trial ever.
