Australia’s competition regulator on Tuesday said Citigroup Inc and Deutsche Bank AG have been committed to the Australian Federal Court for trial on criminal cartel charges in the country’s biggest white collar criminal case.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accused the investment banks of colluding over a A$2.5 billion ($1.8 billion) 2015 share issue to withhold unsold shares and keep the stock price from falling.
Their client, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd which conducted the share issue, has also been committed to the court for trial, along with six other senior banking executives from the lenders’ staff and former staff.
The development comes after a lower court in Sydney in August declined a prosecution request to delay proceedings, helping speed up the case that had been crawling through the court since the charges were laid in mid-2018.
“As this matter involves criminal charges, we will not be commenting further at this…