Latest news with #LexGreensill
AU Financial Review
16 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Lex Greensill decries ‘code of silence' in $677m SoftBank lawsuit
Financier Lex Greensill said there was a 'code of silence' around a series of transactions with SoftBank to keep potential losses hidden, in his first public court appearance since the high-profile collapse of his firm. Greensill is giving evidence at a $US440 million ($677 million) London trial brought by Credit Suisse against SoftBank over a restructuring agreement involving his trade finance firm in 2020.
Mint
18 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Financier Lex Greensill Decries ‘Code of Silence' Around SoftBank Deals
(Bloomberg) -- Financier Lex Greensill said there was a 'code of silence' around a series of transactions with SoftBank Group Corp. to keep potential losses hidden, in his first public court appearance since the high profile collapse of his firm. Greensill is giving evidence at a $440 million London trial brought by Credit Suisse against SoftBank over a restructuring agreement involving his trade finance firm in 2020. He said there was a risk that a financing arrangement for an increasingly troubled SoftBank-backed startup would trigger an 'immediate' claim worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 'There was a code of silence around this transaction,' Greensill said in court on Monday. 'This whole transaction was to enable SoftBank to structure it as a balance sheet transaction so that it wouldn't appear on the' profit and loss account. Greensill said he was ultimately forced to accept the SoftBank restructuring calling it 'painful.' The London lawsuit is focusing on how Greensill restructured its relationship with Katerra Inc., a US-based construction company in which SoftBank was a major investor. Credit Suisse alleges SoftBank concocted the restructuring in 2020 so that it could pull its own money out of the firm, knowing full well that Greensill, already in free-fall, would be unable to repay the $440 million it owed to Credit Suisse. SoftBank argues that the Credit Suisse case has always been an attempt to shift blame 'for its own poor investment decisions.' The allegations are 'entirely without merit,' it said previously. SoftBank's lawyers said that the $440 million was provided by the Vision Fund on the basis that it would be used to repay the Credit Suisse notes. In his evidence, Greensill talked about the rupturing of his relationship with SoftBank and its founder Masayoshi Son, who once mentored him. He said that some executives were 'threatened' by his close relationship with Son and that he would speak directly with the founder, bypassing executives including Rajeev Misra, in an attempt to speed financial support from SoftBank. 'There were certain people in the organization who felt threatened by the nature of the relationship Son-san had with me,' Greensill said, using the Japanese honorific. 'Some people liked to play games and make things difficult.' Credit Suisse previously disclosed emails in the trial from Misra, who was then sitting on the investment committee of SoftBank's Vision Fund, who'd warned in an email that Lex Greensill was often dishonest and 'slippery.' The two clashed over the levels of financial support that SoftBank would offer to Greensill through 2020, before Greensill Capital collapsed the following year. 'Mr. Son is SoftBank,' he said, describing him as 'someone who can look over the horizon in a way most ordinary mortals can't.' Greensill will be questioned by lawyers for both Credit Suisse and SoftBank over the next two days. In a filing, SoftBank's attorneys said that the financier had at times displayed 'hostility' to the Japanese group. 'He is in no sense the witness of the SoftBank group,' they said. UBS Group AG is pursuing the London claim on behalf of its former Swiss rival in a bid to recover funds for investors trapped in the supply chain finance vehicles. The fallout from Greensill spawned multiple legal fights around the world. Lex Greensill himself is fighting moves by the UK government to have him disqualified as a director, while his firm's own administrators filed a civil case against him in April. More stories like this are available on
Bloomberg
18 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Financier Lex Greensill Decries ‘Code of Silence' Around SoftBank Deals
Financier Lex Greensill said there was a 'code of silence' around a series of transactions with SoftBank Group Corp. to keep potential losses hidden, in his first public court appearance since the high profile collapse of his firm. Greensill is giving evidence at a $440 million London trial brought by Credit Suisse against SoftBank over a restructuring agreement involving his trade finance firm in 2020. He said there was a risk that a financing arrangement for an increasingly troubled SoftBank-backed startup would trigger an 'immediate' claim worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
AU Financial Review
4 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Lex Greensill ‘slippery and prone to lying', court told
London | The former head of SoftBank's Vision Fund described financier Lex Greensill as 'slippery and prone to lying', according to correspondence disclosed in a complex $US440 million London court battle between the Japanese conglomerate and a fund of the defunct bank Credit Suisse. Rajeev Misra made the comment in an email to a colleague at SoftBank, whose funds were a big investor in Lex Greensill's eponymous lending company before its collapse in 2021 triggered a sprawling political and financial scandal.
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Credit Suisse, SoftBank fight over Greensill losses in $440mn London lawsuit
LONDON: Credit Suisse's $440 million London lawsuit against Japan's SoftBank Group Corp kicked off on Thursday over losses linked to Greensill Capital, with the collapsed finance firm's founder Lex Greensill expected to give evidence next week. The case, which centres on funds Greensill lent to Katerra, a SoftBank-backed U.S. construction group, is the latest concerning Greensill's demise, which caused heavy losses for investors and prompted lawsuits and regulatory probes. Greensill's collapse made Credit Suisse close $10 billion of funds linked to the financial firm and, along with other scandals, led to the 2023 state-backed rescue of the 167-year-old Swiss bank by rival UBS Group. UBS is now pursuing the case against SoftBank, with Lex Greensill and Eric Varvel, former chairman of Credit Suisse's investment bank, among the key witnesses at the trial. The lender alleges that Greensill, at SoftBank's behest, gave up rights to Katerra's debts in return for shares which it then passed on to a SoftBank Group entity, leaving Credit Suisse out of pocket in relation to $440 million of notes. UBS completes merger of Credit Suisse service units in India Lawyer Sonia Tolaney, representing the Credit Suisse fund that held the notes, said SoftBank was heavily exposed to both Greensill and Katerra, to a total of around $3.5 billion, and 'needed to protect the value of its investments'. SoftBank, however, says the lawsuit lacks merit and is simply an attempt by Credit Suisse to 'pin blame (on SoftBank) for a loss caused by their own negligence and risk-taking'. Tom Smith, a lawyer for SoftBank, said in court filings that SoftBank paid $440 million to Greensill 'on the agreement and understanding that this was to be used to repurchase or redeem' the notes and pay back Credit Suisse in full. 'Far from seeking to harm (Credit Suisse), the (SoftBank defendants) and (Lex Greensill) acted to protect (Credit Suisse) because of its importance to Greensill's business model,' he said.
