Andrew’s ex loses £660m court battle with Barclays
... but judge blasts bank’s ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’ in bitter row over 2008 bailout deal
BARCLAYS lied to a top banker in its battle to raise £7billion to ride out the financial crisis, a court ruled yesterday.
Amanda Staveley, who once dated Prince Andrew, had sued the bank, claiming her firm was wrongly denied around £660million under the mammoth bailout deal.
Mr Justice Waksman dismissed her plea for damages despite finding the bank guilty of ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’. The High Court judge said this was because she would have been unable to come up with the money she had promised.
During the case, Barclays sought to paint Miss Staveley, 47, as a financial rookie ‘hustling’ to put herself at the heart of the deal. But the judge said she was ‘a tough, clever and creative entrepreneur’ and the driving force of her firm, PCP Capital.
He added: ‘Barclays contends that, in general, Miss Staveley was thoroughly unreliable, her evidence was inconsistent with documents, she had a flawed recollection and she was guilty of “obvious embellishment and invention”. I
‘Unequivocal evidence’
do not accept that as a general characterisation. I thought that, for the most part, her evidence was reliable.’
The case follows 12 years of criminal investigation, regulatory probes and court claims.
Ex-Barclays executive Stephen Jones quit last June as the UK’s top banking lobbyist after it emerged he had called Miss Staveley ‘thick as s*** with big breasts’. A month later, Edinburgh-born Barclays dealmaker Roger Jenkins publicly apologised for calling her a ‘dolly bird’ and a ‘tart’.
The case concerned events in autumn 2008 when the financial crisis raged and Barclays was desperate to raise cash to stop it falling into state ownership.
It began to woo Middle Eastern investors to raise £7.3billion, of which £3.5billion was to come from Miss Staveley and a group from Abu Dhabi. To get the deal across the line she faced Mr Jenkins, who represented Scotland in the 400m at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, once dated model Elle Macpherson and was known as ‘Big Dog’ to colleagues.
But she was not told that Qatari investors were being offered a much bigger incentive for helping rescue Barclays. Mr Justice Waksman ruled that PCP could have collected as much as £615million, were it not for this deceit.
But he said her case failed overall because her firm could not have raised the required £1.95billion quickly enough. PCP was paid £30million after the deal.
Miss Staveley said: ‘The judgment confirms what I have said from the outset: a senior executive at Barclays lied to me when seeking private investment.
‘The evidence at trial was clear and unequivocal. PCP was an investor in the transaction and played an integral role ... which ultimately prevented the bank from being nationalised.’
Barclays said it welcomed the court’s decision. Prosecutors first launched an investigation into the bailout deal in August 2012.
Charges against the bank and former chief executive John Varley were thrown out by judges, while three executives, including Mr Jenkins, were acquitted by a jury following two trials.
Proceedings brought by the Financial Conduct Authority against the bank are ongoing.
Just nine UK bankers, seven of which worked for Barclays, have been convicted for actions taken during the financial crisis.