Barclays Sues Bear Stearns

So, now the lawsuits start:

Barclays sues over sub-prime losses

British bank says hedge fund losses were hidden

Andrew Clark

Barclays' exposure to America's sub-prime mortgage fiasco took a dramatic turn last night as the bank sued the Wall Street firm Bear Stearns for fraud and deception over the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in an ill-fated hedge fund.

In a lawsuit filed in New York, Barclays accused Bear Stearns of systematically hiding losses in a fund which swallowed $400m (£200m) of the British bank's money. The fund had to be bailed out in June after reaching the brink of collapse following a disastrous series of investments in mortgage-backed securities.

Barclays described the fund's demise as "one of the most high profile and shocking hedge fund failures in the last decade". The suit alleges that up to the last days before the bail-out, Bear Stearns executives engaged in a cover-up to hide the slump in its value.

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This is going to get worse. We are going to see more lawsuits, and some very big jury verdicts.

With proper regulations, you stop this sort of stuff before it gets out of hand. Without it, you just have lawsuits after the fact.