A federal judge in New York ruled this week that Citigroup would not have to face FINRA arbitration regarding claims that its stock dropped precipitously after it hid securitized-loan losses because an arbitration would violate an already existing $590 million dollar settlement over the same claims. An arbitration had been begun by Gary Burgess and Joseph Icon, two former Citigroup employees who claimed not to be included in the 670,000-person settlement class. Burgess argued that he should not have been included because he failed to opt out of the class, and Icon argued that he did not understand the release. U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein, however, was not swayed and held that Burgess and Icon were in fact included in the settlement class, thus blocking the FINRA arbitration. Stein wrote that the claims the two men were trying to bring were the exact same claims previously settled.

In August 2012, Citigroup agreed to pay $590 million to settle consolidated class claims asserting that Citigroup intentionally failed to warn investors of risky exposure to collateralized debt obligations. The settlement was one of the biggest that resulted from the banking industry’s subprime securities fiasco. The consolidated plaintiffs in the case accused the bank of committing securities fraud by making misrepresentations and omitting material facts from February 2007 to April 2008 pertaining to Citigroup’s debt obligation holdings.

If you or someone you know has lost money as a result of an investment, please contact Richard Frankowski at 888-741-7503 to discuss your potential legal remedies.