NY Judge sides with top banks over evidence in Forex benchmark rates fixing case
Judge Lorna G. Schofield denied the plaintiffs’ claims that the top banks requested too much information about Forex transactions.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield of the New York Southern District Court has sided with the defendants in a Forex benchmark rates fixing case by denying claims that the top banks, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Barclays Capital Inc, and HSBC Bank USA, requested too much information from the plaintiffs.
The Judge denied an application by the plaintiffs who had argued that the banks’ requests for production of evidence overstep the limits imposed by the Court. In particular, the banks had demanded (inter alia): information about each plaintiff’s Forex transactions, including documents identifying each such transaction’s time and date, location, counterparty information, etc; all communications between any plaintiff and any defendant relating to a plaintiff’s foreign currency exchange transaction; documents sufficient to show all financial institutions and retail branches at which each plaintiff has engaged in Forex transactions; all documents relating to any advice, information, guidance, instructions or recommendations Plaintiffs sought or received concerning Forex rates, from Defendants or otherwise.
The banks had argued that the plaintiffs’ requests are premature and improper, and that they have the right to access the information they requested from the plaintiffs.
On Tuesday, November 14th, the Judge assigned to the case denied the plaintiffs’ application as premature for substantially the reasons stated in the defendants’ letter dated November 13, 2017.
The case, captioned Nypl v. JP Morgan Chase & Co. et al (1:15-cv-09300), accuses a number of major banks of conspiracy to fix foreign currency benchmark exchange rates and include price-fixed rates in the prices paid by plaintiffs and a putative class. Whereas the so-called “non-foreign” defendants in the case are seeking to get the evidence necessary to build a defense, the “foreign” defendants, such as Barclays PLC (LON:BARC), HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA), Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LON:RBS), The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC and UBS AG had moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. Plaintiffs are trying to prove that these foreign banks should also be sued in the United States.
