Ramchandani Claim Against Citi to Proceed

A US District Judge has ruled that former Citi FX dealer Rohan Ramchandani’s lawsuit against the bank alleging “malicious prosecution” and seeking at least $112 million in damages, can proceed. Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District Court of New York said that Ramchandani had raised a plausible claim for relief and he refused the Citi’s request to dismiss the case.

Ramchandani was dismissed in 2014 by the bank following claims that he and other traders had colluded in chat rooms to manipulate currency rates. Citi and other banks paid billions of dollars to settle misconduct charges brought by national authorities, after which Ramchandani and the other leading members of what was called the “Cartel” chat room (but which was never actually named that”, then faced trial in the US, but were acquitted.

In the claim, Ramchandani alleges that “Citi made knowing and material mis-statements to the United States Department of Justice, which relied upon those mis-statements in obtaining the indictment of Ramchandani for felony violations of the United States antitrust laws without probable cause.”

The filing further alleges that, after firing Ramchandani, Citi “began to leak false, and gravely derogatory, assertions against him, including to government investigators and the press”.

Among the assertions made in the filing are that Citi deliberately claimed the malpractice were the responsibility of one trader.

Last year, Ramchandani won an unfair dismissal hearing at the UK Employment Tribunal, however because the judge ruled the dismissal was unfair due to incorrect procedural practices and that she was satisfied that he had been dismissed due to his conduct, his bid to be reinstated was refused.