Baltimore Sues 10 Banks Over VRDOs, Alleging Price Collusion (2)

Baltimore filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against 10 banks for violating federal antitrust and state law, alleging that they colluded to manipulate the pricing of variable-rate municipal bond securities, according to a copy of the lawsuit.

• Baltimore “was harmed by Defendants’ collusive fixing of interest rates on VRDO bonds above a competitive level,” the lawsuit states
• The lawsuit was filed against Bank of America, Barclays, BMO Financial Group, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Fifth Third, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, RBC and Wells Fargo
• Bill Halldin, spokesman for Bank of America, declined to comment, as did Andrew Smith, spokesman for Barclays, Scott ...