Barclays/Bear: Bear-baiting

Banks don’t usually engage in public slanging matches - and with good reason. It is rarely good business to wash one’s dirty linen in public. Barclays’ claims of fraud against Bear Stearns are a case in point. The UK bank’s 80-page filing against the US broker-dealer is compelling reading. Barclays lost $300-400m when two Bear hedge funds blew up in June. Barclays, which provided leverage to the funds, says Bear lied persistently about their performance and used them to offload risky assets that...