Bancroft: MBI Files Appeal Against Barclays in New York Supreme Court - Seeks Reinstatement of $10 Billion Suit

NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MBI International Holding Inc. today filed an appeal in New York Supreme Court against Barclays Bank PLC seeking to overturn the IAS court's 2015 dismissal of the case based on time limitations.  The brief argues that IAS Court had it exactly backwards with respect to Plaintiffs' knowledge of the facts:  nothing in the record shows that plaintiffs had any knowledge of facts from which they could have inferred that Barclays had engaged in alleged fraudulent misrepresentations and concealment of its self-dealing, much less that Plaintiffs were "conclusively" aware of the facts underlying the alleged fraud.

"Sixteen years ago, I came to New York because I trusted the strict statutory and regulatory framework that holds companies and individuals to the highest legal and ethical standards," said MBI Chairman Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber.  "In seeking this appeal, I am taking a stand for those who still believe that in the United States, the rule of law protects the hard work and determination of honest businessmen and punishes those who allegedly commit fraud against those to whom they have a fiduciary duty."

In dismissing the case in 2015, the IAS court ruled that MBI should have known about Barclays self-dealing and taken action by 2008, although the court did not provide any rational, based on the facts and evidence of the case, to illustrate what legal action plaintiffs could have taken. 

"As we argue in our brief, it strains credulity to suggest that MBI should have known about Barclays' alleged fraud and self-dealing by 2008 when it took the combined resources of the Justice Department and British authorities until 2013 to detect and discover the alleged wrongdoing," said Paul Clement, counsel for MBI.

The brief argues that the New York Supreme Court should overturn the IAS Court's ruling, reinstate the complaint and proceed to trial.  MBI is suing Barclay's for $10 billion.

Background on the case:

The case originally filed by MBI in New York in 2014, involved two residential compounds built by Jadawel International.  The compounds were leased to the Saudi government to house hundreds of employees of United States contractors.  To allow MBI to expand its businesses, Jadawel accepted a secured loan up to $900 million by a syndicate of banks led by Barclays   PLC.  The loan was to be repaid by the stream of lease payments totaling $2 billion which were executed by the Saudi government as a sovereign guaranteed.  

When the Saudi Government defaulted on the lease payments, Barclays assured MBI and Jadawel that it was pursuing the companies' best interests with the government of Saudi Arabia.  In fact, as a joint investigation by US and British law enforcement would in 2013 discover, Barclays, through alleged bribery of Saudi officials and fraudulent representations to its fiduciaries MBI and Jadawel, used its position to acquire a coveted banking license in Saudi Arabia in return for making the companies claims against the government go away.  MBI and Jadawel were unaware of Barclay's alleged deceit until the scandal was first reported by the Financial Times in 2013.

About MBI International:

International entrepreneur Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber is the founder, Chairman and CEO of MBI Group and its subsidiaries. The group has over 9,000 employees across three continents and operates in four market sectors. With a combined asset value in excess of $9bn, the MBI Group of companies operates across Europe and the Middle East. Over the past thirty years, MBI Group subsidiaries have grown into major international concerns with the chairman taking a hands-on approach and working relentlessly at the helm.

Born in 1959 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chairman Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber is an extraordinarily dynamic, self-made businessman. His drive to champion the development of democracy throughout the Arab world through his MBI Al Jaber Foundation,  has provided many under-privileged students throughout the Middle East with the opportunity to study in top universities in Europe and around the world.

In 1982, he established his first major endeavor in Saudi Arabia where he founded Jadawel International Construction & Development, a major real estate development company in the Middle East that owns and operates large, exclusive luxury residential properties. By positioning the quality of the residential compounds to a far higher standard to that of competitors, he was able to take the lead in a specialized and highly competitive market.

JJW Hotels & Resorts was established in 1989 in Portugal and is now the owner-operator of more than 60 hotel and leisure resorts in Europe and the Middle East. Included in the 5-star European portfolio are the Grand Hotel Wien in Vienna and the Scotsman in Edinburgh. The group also owns boutique hotels Balzac, De Vigny and La Trémoille in Paris. In 2008 the famous Dona Filipa and San Lorenzo Golf Course were acquired to complement Pinheiros Altos, a luxury private residential resort amid a 27-hole golf course. All are located in the exclusive Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago areas in the Algarve.

MBI Al Jaber is also founder, chairman and sole patron of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation and a UN Spokesperson for Global Forums on Reinventing Government. A passionate philanthropist, he is UNESCO Special Envoy for Education Tolerance and Cultures in the Middle East.

CONTACT: Mark Corallo
CORALLO MEDIA STRATEGIES, INC
[email protected]
703-838-9705

SOURCE Bancroft Associates, PLLC