French investors urged New York’s top court on Wednesday to reinstate their lawsuit over losing $43 million out of $50 million they put into two structured investment vehicles.
The investors claim Barclays Bank, Standard & Poor’s and two management companies were complicit in leaving investors with plummeting securities shortly before the Wall Street collapse. Oddo Asset Management claimed collateral managers Avendis Financial Services Ltd. and Solent Capital Ltd. conspired with Barclays in early 2007 to transfer subprime mortgage-backed securities from Barclays to the two vehicles.
The investors also claimed S&P was complicit by confirming inflated note ratings for Golden Key Ltd. and Mainsail II Ltd.
A judge dismissed the suit, concluding the collateral managers had no fiduciary duty to Oddo, so Barclays and S&P could not be liable for abetting any breach.
“What Barclays knew was these assets were largely impaired,” Oddo’s attorney Geoffrey Jarvis argued. He said the bank solicited Oddo’s investment in what was then a new type of vehicle and selected everyone else involved in it.