NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Wednesday dismissed litigation accusing 10 large banks of conspiring to suppress competition in the multi-trillion dollar market for U.S. Treasury securities.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan ruled in long-running antitrust litigation by 21 pension, retirement and benefit funds, as well as unions, banks, individuals, and companies that traded in Treasuries.
The defendants included Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, NatWest Group and UBS, as well as the trading platform operator Tradeweb Markets.
Traders accused the banks of sharing confidential customer orders and other sensitive information prior to Treasury auctions, and said seven banks conspired to boycott alternative trading platforms that might help level the playing field.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese, Alexandra Hudson
