REUTERS/Phil Noble
Dubai International Capital's chief negotiator Amanda Staveley smiles before the Champions League semi-final first leg match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool, northern England, April 22, 2008.
Barclays lent $3 billion (£2.2 billion) to Qatari investors to buy the bank's shares and help it avoid a government bailout at the height of the 2008 crisis, Amanda Staveley, the dealmaker at the centre of the transaction, alleged in court documents.
Staveley's firm, PCP Capital Partners, alleges that Barclays fraudulently boosted its share price in a 2008 equity raising "through a series of unlawful transactions and dishonest conduct towards existing shareholders and prospective investors," according to a report by Sky News. The transactions were essentially circular, PCP alleges: Barclays loaned money to the Qataris who used it to buy Barclays' stock. That made it appear the bank was receiving a new influx of equity investment and thus did not need government intervention.
"Contrary to the manner in which Barclays presented the Qatari participation in the October 2008 capital-raising to the market, in fact the Qatari investors' entire investment was funded by Barclays," PCP's claim alleges.
PCP is suing Barclays for more than £700 million in unpaid fees allegedly owed to Staveley's firm. Barclays used PCP to connect with the Qatari investors, the suit claims.
Barclays has said previously: "We believe the claim against Barclays is misconceived and without merit and Barclays will be vigorously defending it."
The suit concerns the billions of pounds of capital injected into the bank by Middle Eastern investors in 2008 following the fall of Lehman Brothers during the credit crisis. Staveley helped arrange the deal between the bank and the investors, and her firm was paid millions for the service.
Although it spared Barclays from public ownership, the deals attracted regulators' scrutiny and a fraud investigation. The central question is whether Barclays made secret loan payments to Qatar in order to secure the financing, and whether those payments were legal.
The SFO has been investigating "certain commercial arrangements between Barclays Bank and Qatar Holdings" since 2012. In 2013, the Financial Conduct Authority alleged in its own investigation that Barclays paid around £322 million to Qatari investors in return for a £4.6 billion capital injection at the height of the 2008 financial meltdown.
Barclays paid a £50 million ($77 million) fine but said it would contest the findings.