Goldman, Citi, BofA, Others to Face Muni Bond Price-Fixing Suit

Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and other top banks must face claims that they conspired to fix the price of “variable rate demand obligations,” a type of municipal infrastructure bond that can be redeemed at short-term interest rates that are reset weekly, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled Monday.

“Prior to resetting the VRDO interest rates, the banks routinely” shared “their base rates, inventory levels, and planned rate changes,” using “thinly coded questions” to coordinate and “ensure that none of them broke ranks,” Judge Jesse M. Furman wrote.

Those exchanges reflect “the kinds of ...