Banks Sued Over Enron

Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch were all named in an amended complaint filed on Monday.

Some of the banks have been accused of providing misleading information and some of promoting sales of Enron stock while the company misstated its income and debt position.

To succeed the plaintiffs will need to prove that there was a direct link between an illegal bank action and information that shareholders relied on. It is also thought that a bank may escape liability if it said nothing publicly to mislead, even if was aware that certain of Enron's statements were false.

The case is will no doubt be complex and difficult to follow. Should the plaintiffs succeed, the banks will be ordered to pay over several billion dollars in damages to compensate Enron shareholders who suffered substantial losses when the company collapsed.