Terra Firma & EMI vs. Citigroup Trial Day One: “They knew they’d lied.”

The court battle between investment firm Terra Firma and bankers Citigroup over the $4.9 billion purchase of EMI began yesterday with all of the expected finger pointing and accusations. "They knew that they'd lied and made Terra Firma make this bid on the fictional claim that there were multiple bids,"  lead Terra Firma attorney David Boles told the New York City jury. 

Citigroup had warn many hats in the orginal EMI deal: broker, advisor to both EMI and Terra Firma and ulimately financier.  Terra Firma alleges that Citi crossed the line; providing misleading information in an effort to get the deal done. According to the Associated Press, Boles asked the jury to carefully examine the content and dates of emails and memos that Terra Frimas claims were an attempt to conceal that another bidder. investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, had dropped out 

Citigroup lawyer Theodore Wells countered, "It turned out to be a bad deal and people lost a lot of money. There was no fraud. There were no lies. We didn't go out and lie to anybody so we could loan them $2.5 billion."