Barclays is doubling down on the dark pool.
The British bank filed a motion to dismiss New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s suit alleging that Barclays’ unregulated stock trading platform lured investors for the benefit of predatory high-frequency traders.
“Fundamentally, the complaint fails to identify any fraud — establishing no material misstatements, no identified victims, and no actual harm,” according to the motion.
Schneiderman’s suit, which he announced last month, includes details where employees either left or were fired for refusing to lie during presentations to clients that misstated how much volume went to its own dark pool.
Those employees were either already in the process of getting laid off, or resigned months later unrelated to the presentation, Barclays claims.
Volume on Barclays’ platform cratered after the AG’s charges were announced.
Barclays was aware of predatory trading and encouraged aggressive HFT firms to use its dark pools in order to increase its volume and make more money, Schneiderman’s suit alleges.
Schneiderman’s suit also contains internal communications, including one vice president who said that he’s “happy to take liberties” with being transparent to clients.
The AG is looking to have the motion to dismiss rejected, according to a statement from Schneiderman’s office.