Amanda Staveley loses £820m court battle with Barclays

BARCLAYS today won its high court battle against Amanda Staveley, who had claimed the bank owed her hundreds of millions of pounds for arranging investment deals during the 2008 financial crisis.

The bank had always insisted that Staveley, a glamorous financier who had once dated Prince Andrew and had strong links in the Middle East, was merely an introducer rather than a major player.

Staveley was asking for £819 million in damages through a civil lawsuit filed by her PCP Capital Partners investment advisory firm. She had claimed she was ousted as an investor.

Barclays said: “We welcome the court’s decision to dismiss PCP’s claim in its entirety and award it no damages.”

The bank did not emerge unscathed however, with the judge raising serious questions about the conduct of some former executives.

Barclays raised more than £7 billion in October 2008 from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, thereby avoiding a bailout from the UK government.

Staveley argued she was central to that deal, in a case that laid bare some of the internal workings of high finance.

The case was somewhat of an embarrassment for Barclays. The court heard that some executives had referred to Staveley, 47, as a “dolly bird”.

She said: "In spite of Barclays’ efforts to question my character and credentials, the court has recognised my abilities as a businesswoman and the truth of my account of events.

"The judgment confirms what I have said from the outset and repeated in my evidence; a senior executive at Barclays repeatedly lied to me when seeking private investment in the bank during the 2008 financial crisis.

"The evidence at trial was clear and unequivocal; PCP was an investor in the transaction and played an integral role in the capital raising, which ultimately prevented the bank from being nationalised.”

Her lawyer Richard East of Quinn Emanuel said: “Despite Barclays’ attempts to besmirch Ms Staveley’s character during 6 days of no-holds-barred cross examination, this judgment makes clear that Ms Staveley was a reliable and honest witness.