Barclays Questions Leave Amanda Staveley in Tears at Trial
Barclays Questioning Leaves Staveley in Tears in $2 Billion Case
(Bloomberg) -- Amanda Staveley was left in tears after a Barclays Plc attorney concluded his questioning with a sustained attack on her role in the bank’s fundraising at the height of the financial crisis.
As she finished testifying, Barclays lawyer Jeffery Onions accused Staveley of operating a “hustle” by inserting herself into the middle of the crucial capital raising. Onions said Staveley had exaggerated her relationship with a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family.
Staveley repeatedly denied Onions’ summary of the case, saying his assertions were “ridiculous.”
The exchange drew Staveley’s week of testimony to a close on a contentious note. Her PCP Capital Partners LLP is suing Barclays for $2 billion in fees and interest that she says she was owed for her help in putting together the fundraising, which saved the bank from a government bailout.
“That was an extraordinary and bizarre 29 minutes,” Staveley’s lawyer, a visibly angry Joe Smouha, said before the judge announced a break in the proceedings.
The fundraising was fraught as Barclays tried to avoid a U.K. bailout that would have come with many restrictions, including on bonuses and dividends. The hotly anticipated civil trial had been on hold for years until criminal proceedings related to Qatar’s role in the fundraising were completed.
Onions said Staveley sued because she believed Barclays would be willing to strike a deal during the Serious Fraud Office prosecution. The criminal case collapsed and ultimately led to the acquittal of four bankers, including the lenders Middle East head Roger Jenkins.
PCP brought the claim “not because you felt you’d been lied to but because you thought Barclays would want to settle in the context of the criminal investigation,” Onions said at the end of the sixth day of questions. “You sought to construct the claim in the hope that you’d get a substantial payout.”
The crux of the criminal trial was prosecutors’ claims that the bank hid the fact that Qatar got better perks -- including a services deal -- than other investors.
Staveley rejected Onions’ statement that she invented a story that Jenkins told her that the Qataris were getting the same deal as investors from Abu Dhabi.
“Mr. Jenkins made the representation and you know that he did,” she said.
Smouha said Onions had introduced “unsupported allegations of fraud.”
In a statement after the hearing PCP said it remained “confident in the strength of our claim.”
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