The bank’s trial lawyer, Ted Wells, displayed on a screen in Manhattan federal court the “special thanks” the juror received in the credits for Moore’s 2009 documentary in which he rails against banks and U.S. capitalism in general.
Terra Firma sued the bank, which was bailed out with taxpayer money in the financial crisis, accusing it of fraud in the May 2007 bidding process for storied music company EMI. The private equity firm bought EMI for 4 billion pounds ($6.4 billion). Citigroup provided 2.6 billion pounds ($4 billion) in loans for the acquisition.
Wells played a four-minute long clip in court while the jurors were out of the room. The juror’s role on the movie set was not described.
But two names shown in the film credits highlighted by the lawyer in court are apparently the names of a husband-and-wife New York balloon twister company that sends performers to events. The juror’s name is a combination of those two names.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff convened with lawyers for both sides over the matter, while the nine jurors were on breaks. The judge did not make an immediate decision on Citigroup’s request to remove the juror.
Rakoff has effectively reduced the potential damages against the bank to about 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion), representatives of both sides said.
Describing the dispute “as a cat fight between two rich companies” at a hearing on Monday night, the judge ruled punitive damages should not be considered by the jury in its deliberations.
The ill-fated purchase of EMI has become a symbol of some of the worst aspects of the credit boom and bust.
The trial, which started on October 18 and is expected to end this week, centers on the word of Terra Firma founder Guy Hands, 51, and his onetime Citigroup banker friend David Wormsley, 50.
Hands has testified he made a high bid of 265 pence per share for EMI only because the banker and friend he trusted lied to him about a rival offer from Cerberus Capital Management LP at 262 pence per share that he had to beat. The Cerberus bid turned out to be nonexistent.
During his testimony, Wormsley denied misleading or lying to Hands. If the jury decided Terra Firma had been defrauded, Citigroup’s reputation for facilitating mergers and acquisitions could suffer, while the banking industry is still trying to recover from its near collapse in 2008.
EMI is sagging under the weight of its debt and problems in the music business. If Terra Firma loses at trial, it could be forced to hand over EMI to Citigroup, the music company’s main creditor.