September 27, 2018
A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and four other large banks to face an antitrust lawsuit by investors who said they conspired to stifle competition in the nearly $2 trillion stock lending market.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan rejected the banks’ arguments that the investors, led by several pension funds, made implausible allegations and sued too late, and that the defendants’ activity was reasonable.
The plaintiffs accused units of Goldman, JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) of conspiring since 2009 to keep the stock lending market “in the stone age” by boycotting the startup platforms AQS, Data Explorers and SL-x.
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Michael Eisenkraft, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an email: “We are pleased with the judge’s ruling and look forward to prosecuting the case.”
Read Goldman, JPMorgan, Four Others Must Face Stock Lending Antitrust Case.