Carpenters Pension Trust Fund of St. Louis, St. Clair Shores Police & Fire Retirement System v. Barclays PLC
Carpenters Pension Trust Fund of St. Louis, St. Clair Shores Police & Fire Retirement System v. Barclays PLC
Opinion of the Court
OPINION AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
Plaintiffs — a putative class of purchasers of 'American Depositary Shares of Bar-clays PLC between July 10, 2007 and June 27, 2012 — bring claims for violations of section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder against three corporate defendants — Barclays PLC, Barclays Bank PLC (“Barclays Bank”), and Barclays Capital Inc. (“BCI”) (collectively “Barclays”) — and one individual defendant — Robert E. Diamond, Jr. In addition, they bring claims under section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against individual defendants Diamond, Marcus A.P. Agi-us, and John S. Varley.
As a result of prior rulings, only two sets of alleged misstatements remain in this case: Barclays’s London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) submissions from August 2007 through January 2009, and Diamond’s remarks during a conference call with market analysts on October 31, 2008.
Defendants seek dismissal of the Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) on grounds raised, but not considered, in their prior motion to dismiss. They contend that the Complaint does not adequately allege scienter as to any defendant, the materiality of Diamond’s statements, that Barclays PLC, BCI, or Diamond made LIBOR submissions, or, with respect to the section 20(a) claims, a primary violation or culpable participation by the individual defendants.
A. Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss
In deciding a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), the court “must accept all non-conclusory factual allegations as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor.”
When deciding a motion to dismiss, “a district court may consider the facts alleged in the complaint, documents attached to the complaint as exhibits, and documents incorporated by reference in the complaint.”
B. Heightened Pleading Standard Under Rule 9(b) and the PSLRA
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) requires that the circumstances constituting fraud be alleged with particularity, although “[mjalice, intent, knowledge, and other conditions of a person’s mind may be alleged generally.” The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1955 (“PSLRA”) adds that in private securities fraud cases the complaint must “specify each statement alleged to have been misleading [and] the reason or reasons why the statement is misleading.”
III. DISCUSSION
A. Scienter
I turn first to Defendants’ argument that the Complaint fails to adequately plead scienter. A plaintiff may establish scienter by alleging facts that either (1) show that the defendant had both the “motive and opportunity” to commit the
1. Corporate Defendants
“When the defendant is a corporate entity, ... the pleaded facts must create a strong inference that someone whose intent could be imputed to the corporation acted with the requisite scienter.”
The only actionable misstatements attributable to the corporate defendants are the understated “Dollar LIBOR Rate Submission Rates submitted by Barclays’ London Money Market Desk from August 2007 through January 2009[.]”
The DOJS states that “‘Barclays often submitted inaccurate Dollar LIBORs that under-reported its perception of its borrowing costs and its assessment of where its Dollar LIBOR submission should have been’ ”'at the direction of “ ‘[cjertain members of management of Barclays.’ ”
Defendants do not dispute that Barclays knowingly engaged in this conduct. Moreover, I must also assume that the danger of misleading investors here was real because the Second Circuit has held that the materiality of the LIBOR submissions was adequately pled.
Furthermore, the Complaint also plausibly alleges Barclays’s motive — to counter negative perceptions about its borrowing costs and, more generally, its financial condition. Barclays submitted rates “ ‘nearer to the expected rates of other Contributor Panel banks’ ”
In the case of Diamond, the Complaint alleges that following the Bank of England call, he issued a directive to lower the LIBOR rates. Taken together with the allegations concerning Barclays’s conduct, these allegations “give rise to a ‘cogent and compelling’ inference that” Barclays falsified the LIBOR submissions “because it understood their likely effect on the market.”
Defendants contend that scienter not been pled because Barclays had an innocent motive for understating LIBOR rates. They argue that Barclays was merely attempting “to correct a misimpression in the market, and avoid any ‘inaccurate, negative attention about Barclays’s financial health’ (DOJS ¶¶ 39-40), which might have resulted from making higher LIBOR submissions when other banks were making ‘unrealistically low’ submissions (CFTCS at 19).”
While either of these arguments may create an issue of fact or be persuasive to a jury, the Supreme Court instructs that scienter is adequately pled when “ ‘a reasonable person would deem the inference of scienter cogent and at least as compelling as any opposing inference one could draw from the facts alleged.’ ”
2. Diamond
Robert E. Diamond, Jr. served as Bar-clays PLC’s President from at least the
a. LIBOR Submissions
On October 29, 2008, an official at the Bank of England called Diamond to “discuss[ ] the external perceptions of Bar-clays’s LIBOR submissions and questioned why Barclays’s submissions were high compared to other Contributor Panel banks.”
Defendants argue that del Missier’s testimony does not give rise to an inference of scienter because del Missier testified that he believed that the Bank of England had communicated the instruction to Diamond.
In addition, October 2008 was roughly a month after Lehman’s collapse, and until that time “Barclays had been submitting relatively high submission rates, suggesting that Barclays was experiencing financial difficulties and liquidity problems.”
b. Diamond’s 2008 Remarks— Materiality and Scienter
On October 31, 2008, Barclays hosted a conference call with analysts. During the call, an analyst asked how deposit flows “tie[d] ... together” with the analyst’s observation that Barclays was “consistently paying slightly higher than most of the other UK banks in the LIBOR rate.”
Defendants argue that the Complaint does not adequately plead either material falsity or scienter. They contend that Diamond’s statements “relate to Barclays’ borrowing costs, and were not representations regarding Barclays Bank’s allegedly false USD LIBOR submissions.”
The Second Circuit has already held that the Complaint adequately alleges that “Diamond’s 2008 remarks” are material misrepresentations.
With respect to scienter, Defendants, contend that the Complaint does not sufficiently allege that Diamond was reckless in making these statements, because it does not allege either the rates at which Barclays was borrowing unsecured cash in the London market at the time the statements were made or that Diamond was or should have been aware of information that contradicted his comments.
B. Dismissal of Claims Against Defendants Who Did Not “Make’’ LIBOR Submissions
Defendants contend that because Bar-clays PLC, BCI, and Diamond did not
For purposes of Rule 10b-5, the maker of a statement is the person or entity with ultimate authority over the statement, including its content and whether and how to communicate it. Without control, a person or entity can merely suggest what to say, not “make” a statement in its own right. One who prepares or publishes a statement on behalf of another is not its maker. And in the ordinary case, attribution within a statement or implicit from surrounding circumstances is strong evidence that a statement was made by — and only by— the party to whom it is attributed.50
Defendants argue that “[t]he challenged LIBOR submissions were explicitly attributed to Barclays Bank[,]” and that neither Barclays PLC nor BCI can be said to have made the submissions “simply because they are corporate affiliates, of Barclays Bank.”
The Complaint alleges that Barclays PLC is a publicly held corporation, based in the United Kingdom, that provides global financial services.
Janus does not warrant dismissal of the claims against Diamond, Barclays PLC, or BCI. "[Janus'] does not imply that there can be only one ‘maker’ of a statement in the case of express or implicit attribution.”
1. Diamond and Barclays PLC
As already discussed, the Complaint plausibly alleges that Diamond-Bar-clays PLC’s President at the time — was able to cause Barclays Bank to make false LIBOR statements by instructing it to do so.
2. BCI
The Complaint alleges that Bar-clays made LIBOR submissions through Barclays’s London Money Market Desk and that this Money Market Desk was part of BCI during the relevant time period.
Defendants assert that “[p]laintiffs appear to be conflating Barclays Capital, the trade name of the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, with BCI, a totally separate entity, with a different name.”
C. The Section 20(a) Claims Against Diamond, Agius, and Varley
Defendants argue that the section 20(a) claims against Diamond, Agius, and Varley should be dismissed because of the absence of a primary violation and the failure to plead culpable participation.
Defendants do not dispute that the Complaint alleges that Agius and Var-ley are control persons. Thus, the only open question is whether the motion should be granted as to Agius and Varley on grounds that the Complaint does not plead culpable participation. It remains unsettled in this District whether control person liability is premised on fraud, and thus whether culpable participation imports a scienter requirement.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants’ motion is DENIED in its entirety. A status conference will be held on October 30, 2014, at 4:30 p.m.
SO ORDERED.
. On August 25, 2014, Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed all claims against Christopher Lucas, and the section 10(b) claims against Var-ley and Agius. See Docket No. 96.
. See generally Carpenters Pension .Trust Fund of St. Louis v. Barclays PLC, 750 F.3d 227 (2d Cir. 2014) (“Carpenters ”), affirming in part and reversing in part Gusinsky v. Barclays PLC, 944 F.Supp.2d 279 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).
. The Complaint incorporates by reference several investigative reports, including: (i) the Statement of Facts accompanying the Non-Prosecution Agreement between Barclays and the United States Department of Justice dated June 27, 2012 ("DOJS”); (ii) the settlement agreement between Barclays and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commis-sion, also dated June 27, 2012 ("CFTCS”); and (iii) the House of Commons Treasury Committee’s preliminary findings, titled "Fixing LIBOR: some preliminary findings, Second Reports of Session 2012-13, Vol. II: Oral and written evidence,” published on August 18, 2012 ("TCPF”). Furthermore, as Defendants acknowledge, the statements in the DOJS are "factual admissions.” Defendants’ Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Renewed Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint ("Def. Mem.”), at 4.
.See Def. Mem. at 11-25; Defendants’ Reply Memorandum of Law in Further Support of Their Renewed Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint ("Reply Mem.”), at 2-10.
. Simms v. City of New York, 480 Fed.Appx. 627, 629 (2d Cir. 2012) (citing Goldstein v. Pataki, 516 F.3d 50, 56 (2d Cir. 2008)).
. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). Accord Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 621 F.3d 111, 124 (2d Cir. 2010).
. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quotation marks omitted).
. Id. (quotation marks omitted).
. DiPolco v. MSNBC Cable L.L.C., 622 F.3d 104, 111 (2d Cir. 2010). (citing Chambers v. Time Warner, Inc., 282 F.3d 147, 153 (2d Cir. 2002)).
. Id. (quoting Mangiafico v. Blumenthal, 471 F.3d 391, 398 (2d Cir. 2006)).
. Kramer v. Time Warner Inc., 937 F.2d 767, 774 (2d Cir. 1991). Accord Staehr v. Hartford Fin. Servs. Grp., Inc., 547 F.3d 406, 425 (2d Cir. 2008).
. 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(b)(1)(B).
. Id. § 74u-4(b)(2).
. Lerner v. Fleet Bank, N.A., 459 F.3d 273, 290-91 (2d Cir. 2006).
. Teamsters Local 445 Freight Div. Pension Fund v. Dynex Capital Inc., 531 F.3d 190, 195 (2d Cir. 2008).
. Id.
. SAC ¶ 171.
. Id. (quoting DOJS ¶ 36).
. A complete copy of the CFTCS is available online on the CFTC’s website.
. See SAC ¶¶ 57-75.
. See Carpenters, 750 F.3d at 235.
. See Def. Mem. at 13-14.
. Novak v. Kasaks, 216 F.3d 300, 308 (2d Cir. 2000).
. Chill v. General Elec. Co., 101 F.3d 263, 269 (1996) (quotation marks omitted).
. Id. (quotation marks omitted).
. SAC ¶ 171 (quoting DOJS ¶ 36).
. Id. ¶ 173.
. Id. ¶ 57.
. DOJS ¶ 47.
. Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano, - U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 1309, 1324-25, 179 L.Ed.2d 398 (2011) (quoting Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 324, 127 S.Ct. 2499, 168 L.Ed.2d 179 (2007)).
. Reply Mem. at 3.
. Def. Mem. at 13.
. Matrixx Initiatives, Inc., 131 S.Ct. at 1324 (quoting Tellabs, Inc., 551 U.S. at 323, 324, 127 S.Ct. 2499). See also Tellabs, Inc., 551 U.S. at 324, 127 S.Ct. 2499 ("To determine whether the plaintiff has alleged facts giving rise to the requisite 'strong inference,' a court must consider plausible, nonculpable expía-
. See Def. Mem. at 3 (citing SAC ¶ 14).
. DOJS ¶ 47.
. SAC ¶ 74.
. Id.
. See Def. Mem. at 15-17.
. See id. at 15 n. 17.
. See Ex. G to 8/25/14 Declaration of Matthew J. Porpora in Support of Defendants’ Renewed Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint ("Porpora Decl.”).
. Lead Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendants’ Renewed Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint, at 15 (citing SAC ¶ 74).
. The allegations regarding Diamond’s July 2012 resignation from Barclays add further support to this inference. See SAC ¶ 179.
. Id. ¶ 108.
. Id. Defendants argue that Plaintiffs have waived their right to challenge Diamond’s second statement — that "we post where we're transacting, and it’s clearly not at high levels” — because Plaintiffs did not argue against dismissal of claims based on that statement before the Second Circuit. See Def. Mem. at 19 n. 22. However, the Second Circuit held that the Complaint adequately alleged that "Diamond’s 2008 remarks” were materially misleading. Carpenters, 750 F.3d at 235 (emphasis added); see id. at 237 (vacating dismissal of claims based on "Diamond’s 2008 conference call remarks”) (emphasis added).
. Def. Mem. at 19.
. Carpenters, 750 F.3d at 235.
. DOJS ¶ 36.
. Def. Mem. at 19.
. See id. at 21-22 (citing Janus, - U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 2296, 2302, 180 L.Ed.2d 166 (2011)).
. Janus, 131 S.Ct. at 2302.
. Def. Mem. at 21.
. See id. at 22.
. See SAC ¶ 10.
. See id. ¶ 12.
. City of Roseville Emps. Ret. Sys. v. Energy-Solutions, Inc., 814 F.Supp.2d 395, 417 n. 9 (S.D.N.Y. 2011) ("City of Roseville ").
. In re Pfizer Inc. Sec. Litig., 936 F.Supp.2d 252, 268 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (quotation marks omitted). Accord City of Pontiac v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 875 F.Supp.2d 359, 373 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (stating that Janus "addressed only whether third parties can be held liable for statements made by their clients. Its logic rested on the distinction between secondary liability and primary liability ... and has no bearing on how corporate officers who work together in the same entity can be held jointly responsible on a theory of primary liability. It is not, inconsistent with Janus Capital to presume that multiple people in a single corporation have the joint authority to 'make' an SEC filing, such that a misstatement has more than one 'maker.' ").
.See City of Roseville, 814 F.Supp.2d at 418 ("Janus recognized that attribution [can] be ‘implicit from surrounding circumstances' ") (quoting Janus, 131 S.Ct. at 2302).
. See SAC ¶ 74.
. See In re Fannie Mae 2008 Sec. Litig., 891 F.Supp.2d 458, 473 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (“While it is correct that [defendant] did not sign any of the SEC filings at issue, he still may be found to have made a misstatement. In the post-Janus world, an executive may be held accountable where the executive had ultimate authority over the company’s statement; signed the company’s statement; ratified and approved the company’s statement; or where the statement is attributed to the executive’’), aff'd, 525 Fed.Appx. 16 (2d Cir. 2013).
. CFTCS at 2.
. Id. (emphasis added).
. See SAC ¶ 43.
. See id. ¶ 74.
. Def. Mem. at 21 n. 25.
. See Ex. H to Porpora Decl.
. Def. Mem. at 21 n. 25 (quoting SAC ¶ 43).
. DOJS ¶ 10 (emphasis added). As noted, the statements in the DOJS Statement of Facts are factual admissions. See Def. Mem, at 4.
. DOJS ¶ 36 (emphasis added).
. The dispute over whether BCI is a proper defendant, if not voluntarily resolved by the parties, will have to be resolved on summary judgment or at trial.
. See Def. Mem. at 22-24.
. See SAC ¶¶ 13, 16. Diamond replaced Varley as Chief Executive Officer in 2011. See id. ¶ 13.
. Id. ¶ 211.
. Id. ¶ 185. The Complaint also alleges that Agius resigned following disclosure of the false LIBOR reporting. See id. ¶¶ 13, 177-178. In his press release, Agius acknowledged "unacceptable standards of behaviour within the bank ....” Id. ¶ 178.
. See generally Special Situations Fund III QP, L.P. v. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CPA, Ltd., 33 F.Supp.3d 401, 436-39, No. 13 Civ. 1094, 2014 WL 3605540, at *24-25 (S.D.N.Y. July 21, 2014) ("While district courts tend to frame the debate as whether 'culpable participation’ is a required element of a Section 20(a) claim, the debate is more properly understood as a disagreement over the meaning of culpable participation.”) (quotation marks and citations omitted) (emphasis in original); see also id. at 438, 2014 WL 3605540, at *25 ("[D]istrict courts within the Second Circuit disagree on the question of whether Section 20(a) plaintiffs must also allege ‘culpable participation’ as a third element of their claim, or, alternatively, whether section 20(a) created a burden-shifting framework where plaintiffs must only plead a primary section 10(b) violation and control, with defendants allowed to raise a .good faith defense in their answer that can later be rebutted by plaintiffs.”) (quotation marks omitted); In re Parmalat Sec. Litig., 414 F.Supp.2d 428, 440-41 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).
.See, e.g., Pension Comm. of the Univ. of Montreal Pension Plan v. Banc of America
. See SAC ¶¶ 53 ("Certain members of management of Barclays, including senior managers ..., directed that the Barclays Dollar LI-BOR submitters contribute rates that were nearer to the expected rates of other Contributor Panel banks rather than submitting the true, higher LIBORs”), 59 (describing internal pressure to understate LIBOR rates), 63 ("On November 27, 2007, Barclays's senior Dollar LIBOR submitter emailed a group of Barclays's employees, including senior Bar-clays Treasury managers, stating ‘LIBORs are not reflecting the true cost of money ....”'), 64 (after issue of submitting inaccurate LI-BORs was taken "upstairs” the practice continued), 65 (it was the understanding among submitters that senior management had discussed the issue and directed them to continue to understate LIBOR), 67 (same), 74 (describing the interaction between Diamond, del Missier, and Dearlove).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CARPENTERS PENSION TRUST FUND OF ST. LOUIS, ST. CLAIR SHORES POLICE & FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM, and Pompano Beach Police & Firefighters' Retirement System v. BARCLAYS PLC, Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Capital Inc., Marcus A.P. Agius, John S. Varley, and Robert E. Diamond, Jr.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published