A 65-year-old woman whose home was repossessed is taking on some of the world’s leading banks in the first known class action lawsuit claiming alleged Libor manipulation made mortgage repayments for thousands of Americans more expensive than they should have been.
The subprime mortgages of Annie Bell Adams and her four co-lead plaintiffs were securitised into Libor-based collateralised debt obligations and sold by banks to investors.
The class action, filed in New York, alleges that traders at 12 of the biggest banks in Europe and North America – including Barclays, Bank of Americaand UBS– were incentivised to manipulate the London interbank offered rate to a higher rate on certain dates on which adjustable mortgage interest rates were reset. This resulted in homeowners paying more between 2000 and 2009, according to the complaint.