Bondholder LIBOR Settlements

You received the Notice because you may be entitled to money from the proposed Subsequent Settlements between Bondholder Plaintiffs and the Settling Defendants in this class action lawsuit. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlements, your legal rights, and the process to claim your share of the Settlements.

Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald is overseeing this lawsuit and authorized sending the Notice to you. This lawsuit, known as the Bondholder Action, was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and is part of a large group of cases referred to as In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2262. These Settlements relate only to the Bondholder Action.

A copy of the Notice can be found by clicking here.

The Bondholder Plaintiffs previously settled with seven banks and Settlements have now been reached with three additional banks in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of holders of U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities. Bondholder Plaintiffs claim that because of Defendants’ alleged wrongful actions, they did not receive as much interest on their U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities as they would have received, absent the alleged manipulation of U.S. Dollar LIBOR. Bondholder Plaintiffs brought a claim under the U.S. antitrust laws against the Defendants, seeking money damages. The Settling and Non-Settling Defendants deny Bondholder Plaintiffs’ claim and maintain they did nothing wrong. The Court of Appeals upheld the District Court’s dismissal of the Bondholder Action on the merits, ending the case as to the non-settling defendants. That dismissal is now final, and as a result, the Subsequent Settlements are the only remaining opportunity for members of the Bondholder Class to recover on the claims in the litigation.

In a class action, one or more people called “Class Representatives” sue on behalf of themselves and other people with similar claims. All of these people together are called the class or the class members. With respect to these Settlements, the Bondholder Plaintiffs, Ellen Gelboim and Linda Zacher, are the class representatives. The Bondholder Plaintiffs allege that all holders of U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities were affected by Defendants’ alleged manipulation of U.S. Dollar LIBOR. A class action is an efficient way to resolve the claims of all class members in one court, at one time, and at no out-of-pocket cost to class members.

The Settlements were reached with three of the Defendant banks: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. (now known as MUFG Bank, Ltd. (“MUFG”)), Credit Suisse Group AG (“Credit Suisse”) and The Norinchukin Bank (“Norinchukin”). These banks are known collectively as the “Settling Defendants.”

Earlier in the litigation, settlements were reached with seven of the Defendant banks: Barclays Bank plc, UBS AG, HSBC Bank plc, Citibank, N.A. and Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Bank of America Corporation and Bank of America, N.A., and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (together referred to as the “Initial Settlements”). The Court granted final approval of the Initial Settlements by Final Order and Judgment dated December 16, 2020. THE TIME TO FILE CLAIMS IN THE INITIAL SETTLEMENTS HAS EXPIRED.

The remaining Defendants in the Bondholder Action are: Lloyds Banking Group PLC and HBOS PLC; WestLB AG and Westdeutsche Immobilienbank AG; Deutsche Bank AG; Coöperatieve Central Raiffeisen Boerenleenbank B.A. (also known as Rabobank); and Royal Bank of Canada (“Non-Settling Defendants”). The claims against the Non-Settling Defendants were dismissed by the Court, which decision was affirmed on appeal. As a result, there will be no recovery in the Bondholder Action against the Non-Settling Defendants BECAUSE THOSE DEFENDANTS DID NOT SETTLE AND THE CLAIMS AGAINST THEM HAVE BEEN DISMISSED.

LIBOR, short for London Interbank Offered Rate, was the most widely used benchmark interest rate for financial instruments worldwide during the Class Period. LIBORs are determined for several currencies, including the U.S. Dollar, and for multiple borrowing periods (called “tenors”) ranging from overnight to one year. They are published each business day. During the Class Period, U.S. Dollar LIBOR was based upon the rates at which each individual bank on the U.S. Dollar LIBOR panel (then consisting of sixteen international banks) could borrow funds, were it to do so by asking for and then accepting offers in the London inter-bank market in reasonable market size, just prior to 11:00 a.m. London time, and was calculated as the average of the middle eight contributed rates by the sixteen panel banks each day. The Settlements only involve U.S. Dollar LIBOR.

On December 30, 2021, the Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal on the merits of the Bondholder Action as to the Non‑Settling Defendants. That dismissal is now final, and, as a result, the Subsequent Settlements are the only remaining opportunity for members of the Bondholder Class to recover on the claims in the litigation. The proposed Subsequent Settlements do not mean that any law was broken or that the Settling Defendants did anything wrong. Settlement Class Counsel believe the Subsequent Settlements are in the best interests of the members of the Settlement Classes.

You are a Member of the Settlement Classes if you owned (including beneficially in “street name”) any bond or other debt security:

• that has a CUSIP identification number;
• on which interest was payable at any time between August 1, 2007, and May 31, 2010;
• where that interest was payable at a rate expressly tied to U.S. Dollar LIBOR; and
• that was not issued by any of the Defendants, their subsidiaries or affiliates as obligor.

You are not a Member of the Subsequent Settlement Classes, even if you meet the above criteria, if you are a Defendant in the Bondholder Action or one of the Defendants’ affiliated persons or entities. Specifically, you are a Settlement Class Member based on definitions as set forth in the Settlement Agreement with each Settling Defendant as described below:

MUFG Settlement Agreement (¶ 3.2):

All persons and entities (other than defendants in the Bondholder Action and their affiliated persons and entities) who owned any interest in (including beneficially or in “street name”) any debt security that was assigned a unique identification number by the CUSIP system, on which interest was payable at any time between August 1, 2007, and May 31, 2010, and where that interest was payable at a rate expressly tied to the U.S. Dollar LIBOR rate (“LIBOR-Based Debt Security”); however, any such securities that were issued by any Defendant, including its subsidiaries and affiliates, as obligor, are excluded from the definition of USD LIBOR-Based Debt Security.

Credit Suisse Settlement Agreement (¶ 3.2):

All persons and entities (other than defendants in the Bondholder Action and their affiliated persons and entities) who owned (including beneficially or in “street name”) any debt security that was assigned a unique identification number by the CUSIP system, on which interest was payable at any time between August 1, 2007, and May 31, 2010, and where that interest was payable at a rate expressly tied to the U.S. Dollar LIBOR rate (“LIBOR-Based Debt Security”); provided, however that any such securities that were issued by any Defendant, including its subsidiaries and affiliates, as obligor, are excluded from the definition of USD LIBOR-Based Debt Security.

Norinchukin Settlement Agreement (¶ 3.2):

All persons and entities (other than defendants in the Bondholder Action and their affiliated persons and entities) who owned (including beneficially or in “street name”) any debt security that was assigned a unique identification number by the CUSIP system, on which interest was payable at any time between August 1, 2007, and May 31, 2010, and where that interest was payable at a rate expressly tied to the U.S. Dollar LIBOR rate (“LIBOR-Based Debt Security”); provided, however that any such securities that were issued by any Defendant, including its subsidiaries and affiliates, as obligor, are excluded from the definition of USD LIBOR-Based Debt Security.

As relevant here, a CUSIP identification number is a unique nine-character identifier assigned to corporate and government bonds and asset backed securities (among other securities) that are registered in the U.S. and Canada. The nine letters and numbers identify the issuer and the type of financial instrument. If you are unsure whether the CUSIP on your bond(s) is eligible, please contact the Claims Administrator at info@BondholderLIBORSettlements.com or call 1-888-205-5804.

Debt Securities represent agreements repay money that has been borrowed and to pay interest in the interim. U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities utilize U.S. Dollar LIBOR as an express component of the interest rate, which is adjusted at contractually-set intervals. U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities include, without limitation, government, municipal, and corporate bonds, ABS, MBS and CDOs.

Numerous cases were filed on behalf of different entities and individuals owning various types of LIBOR-linked instruments who contend that they were harmed by the alleged manipulation of U.S. Dollar LIBOR by Defendants. The Settlements are made with Plaintiffs in the Bondholder Action only. A separate LIBOR lawsuit, known as the OTC Action, was brought by individuals and entities who purchased LIBOR-based debt instruments directly from one of the Defendants (or their subsidiaries or affiliates). You may participate in both the Bondholder Action and the OTC Action if you hold both types of debt securities.

If you are not sure whether you are included in the Subsequent Settlements, or whether the U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Security that you held during the Class Period is covered by these Settlements, you may call 1-888-205-5804 with questions, or you may also write with questions to Bondholder LIBOR Settlement, Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 3076, Portland, OR 97208-3076.

The Settlements, if each is approved, will, as detailed below, create an aggregate Settlement Fund of $1.749 million that will be used to pay Members of the Settlement Classes who submit valid and timely claims and are determined to have suffered a recoverable injury under the Settlements (“Eligible Members of the Settlement Classes”).

Subject to Court approval, the costs of administration, expert costs, attorneys’ fees and expenses, and any service payment awarded by the Court to Bondholder Class Representatives for acting on behalf of the Settlement Classes will be paid out of the aggregate Settlement Fund (see FAQ 24).

More details are available in the Settlement Agreements between Bondholder Plaintiffs and the Settling Defendants, each of which is available on the Important Documents page.

The aggregate Subsequent Settlement Fund, after deduction of any attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, and other deductions that may be allowed by the Court (the “Net Subsequent Settlement Funds”), will be distributed to Eligible Members of the Settlement Classes pursuant to a proposed Plan of Allocation if the Court approves the plan. The Net Subsequent Settlement Fund will be distributed to Eligible Members of the Settlement Classes in proportion to a reasonable estimate of their damages, based on calculating how much interest they should have been paid during the Class Period minus the amount they were actually paid as a result of the alleged suppression of U.S. Dollar LIBOR. A chart showing the alleged daily suppression by tenor (e.g., 1 week, 3 month, etc.) during the Class Period (the “Bondholder Daily Suppression Chart”), developed by Bondholder Plaintiffs’ consulting expert, Professor Fernando Alvarez, is available here. The Court does not sanction the use of Professor Alvarez’s methodology for any purpose other than the Settlements. Professor Alvarez’s Declaration is also available here. The Settlement Agreements may be approved even if the Court changes the proposed Plan of Allocation. Claims previously submitted in the Initial Settlements will automatically be considered for recovery in the Subsequent Settlements and should not be re‑submitted in the Subsequent Settlements. Recovery for new claims submitted in the Subsequent Settlements will be limited to the Net Subsequent Settlement Funds.

Payments from the Net Subsequent Settlement Fund will be made to Eligible Members of the Settlement Classes after the Court grants final approval to the Settlements. Any appeals from approval of the Settlements will delay payment and resolving them can take time.

Unless you exclude yourself from any of the Subsequent Settlements, you will give up your right to separately sue the Settling Defendants, and their affiliated persons and entities, for the claims being resolved by the relevant Settlements. The specific claims you are giving up against each of the Settling Defendants and all related parties are fully described in the Settlement Agreements, available for review on the Important Documents page.

You will be releasing each of the Settling Defendants and all related people as described in each of the Settlement Agreements. The Settlement Agreements describe the released claims and released persons in more detail. If you have questions about the releases, you can talk to the law firms listed in FAQ 23 at no cost to you, or you may speak with your own lawyer, at your expense.

The released claims do not, however, include the following:

• Claims to enforce any of the terms of the Settlement Agreements in this case;
• Claims that relate to or arise from the purchase of non-U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities; or
• Any other claims that do not arise out of the factual predicate of the Bondholder Action.

There have been settlements of U.S. Dollar LIBOR-related actions other than the Bondholder Action, and there may be other such settlements in the future. You may be eligible to recover from more than one settlement. For example, if in addition to your U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Securities, you also bought a bond directly from a defendant (or its subsidiary or affiliate) you may also be eligible to recover from the OTC Plaintiffs Action Settlements.

Claims previously submitted in the Initial Settlements do not need to be re-submitted; they will be automatically be considered for recovery in the Subsequent Settlements.

However, if a Proof of Claim form was not submitted in the Initial Settlement and you would like to be eligible to recover under the Subsequent Settlements, you will need to submit a Proof of Claim Form by February 27, 2023, which can be done either by mail or electronically. Copies of Proof of Claim Forms are available for download here. Proof of Claim Forms may be submitted electronically here, or mailed to:

Bondholder LIBOR Settlements
Claims Administrator
P.O. Box 3076
Portland, OR 97208-3076

If your claim is rejected, you will be provided a letter explaining why (a “Rejection Letter”). The Settlements provide a process to contest the rejection of a claim, including requesting a review. To be valid, your request for review must

1. be in writing;
2. state the reasons why you are contesting the rejection;
3. include any supporting documentation; and
4. be submitted within the time frame set forth in the Rejection Letter.

If your dispute cannot be resolved by the Claims Administrator, it may be presented to the Court for review. More details are in the relevant Settlement Agreements, available on the Important Documents page of this website.

If you want to retain the right to file or maintain your own lawsuit against one or more of the Settling Defendants (i.e., MUFG, Credit Suisse and/or Norinchukin) about the legal issues in the Bondholder Action, then you must take steps to exclude yourself from each Settlement with the defendant(s) you may want to personally sue. This is also sometimes referred to as “opting out” of the Settlement. If you ask to be excluded from any Settlement, you will not get a payment from that Settlement, and you cannot object to any aspect of that Settlement.

If you have a pending lawsuit against a Settling Defendant or Non-Settling Defendant involving the same legal issues in this case, you may consider speaking to your lawyer in that case immediately. You must exclude yourself from the corresponding Settlement(s) in order to continue your own lawsuit against one or more of the Settling Defendants.

If you are a Member of the Settlement Classes and you wish to exclude yourself from any of the Settlements, you must provide a timely letter or other written document to the Claims Administrator, Epiq, at the address below, requesting exclusion (“Request for Exclusion”).

A Request for Exclusion must:

• Be in writing;
• Be signed by you or your authorized representative;
• State your name, address, and phone number;
• Include a signed statement that “I/we hereby request that I/we be excluded from (one or more of the following) in the In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation,”
  • The proposed MUFG Settlement,
  • The proposed Credit Suisse Settlement,
  • The proposed Norinchukin Settlement,
• Provide documentation supporting that you are a Member of the Settlement Classes, which may include, for example, a relevant account statement. Please also provide: (1) the CUSIP number and dollar face amount of each USD LIBOR-Based Debt Security you held as of August 1, 2007; and (2) the CUSIP number, the dollar face amount and the purchase or sales date of each USD LIBOR-Based Debt Security you bought or sold between August 1, 2007 and May 31, 2010. You must also provide any other information reasonably requested by the Claims Administrator. Settlement Class Counsel and the Claims Administrator may assist you in this process.

Requests for Exclusion must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2023 and be mailed to the Claims Administrator at

Bondholder LIBOR Settlements
Claims Administrator
P.O. Box 3076
Portland, OR 97208-3076

Yes, you may submit a claim in one or more of the Settlements while electing to exclude yourself from other of the Settlements.

No. If you exclude yourself from a Settlement you will not be eligible to receive any payment in that Settlement.

The Court has appointed two law firms – Morris and Morris LLC Counselors At Law and Weinstein Kitchenoff & Asher LLC as “Settlement Class Counsel.” They can be contacted at:

You will not be charged for contacting these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense.

Settlement Class Counsel will ask the Court for attorneys’ fees of up to one-third of the $1.749 million aggregate Settlement Fund, as well as reimbursement for litigation expenses incurred on behalf of the Settlement Classes. The fees and expenses awarded by the Court will be paid out of the Settlement Funds. The Court will decide the amount of fees to award. Settlement Class Counsel will also request that special service payments of up to $2,500.00 each be paid from the aggregate Settlement Fund to the Bondholder Plaintiffs for their service as representatives on behalf of the Settlement Classes.

If you are a Member of the Settlement Classes, and do not exclude yourself, you can object to the award of attorneys’ fees and reimbursement of expenses, the Plan of Allocation or to any other aspect of any of the Subsequent Settlements. To object, you must submit a letter or other written document that includes the following:

• Your name, address, and telephone number;
• A statement saying that you object to one or more of the (i) MUFG, (ii) Credit Suisse, and/or (iii) Norinchukin Settlement(s) in the Bondholder Action in In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation;
• Whether you plan to appear at the Fairness Hearing;
• Proof of membership in the Settlement Class, including documentation that you owned at least one U.S. Dollar LIBOR-Based Debt Security (i.e., on which interest was payable during the Class Period (from August 1, 2007, through May 31, 2010));
• The specific reasons for your objection(s), along with any supporting materials or documents that you want the Court to consider; and
• Your signature.

Your objection(s) may be submitted in one letter as long as you are clear to which of the Settlements you are objecting. To be valid, your objection(s) must be mailed to the Clerk of Court, Settlement Class Counsel and the relevant Settling Defendant Counsel at addresses listed below for each Settlement to which you wish to object, with a postmark no later than March 1, 2023 and must include all of the information listed above.

If you remain a Member of the Settlement Classes, you may file an objection as to any provision of one or more of the Settlements. Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you don’t want to be part of that Settlement. If you choose to exclude yourself from a Settlement, you cannot recover under that Settlement or file an objection related to that Settlement, because that Settlement no longer affects you.

The Court will hold a hearing, called the “Fairness Hearing,” to decide whether to approve the Settlements, the Plan of Allocation, and any requests for attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of litigation expenses, and service awards to the Class Representatives. You are not required to attend. You may, however, attend the hearing, and you may ask to address the Court. If there are objections, the Court will consider them and may allow people who have asked to speak at the Fairness Hearing.

The Fairness Hearing will be held at 11:00 a.m. on March 28, 2023, either telephonically or at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, Southern District of New York, 500 Pearl St., New York, NY 10007, Courtroom 21A. Without additional notice, the Court may change the hearing’s date, time, location, or how the hearing will be conducted, so it is a good idea to check this website or call 1-888-205-5804 if you are going to attend the Hearing. The Court may not render its decision on one or more matters presented at the Fairness Hearing until a later date. These decisions may take time. Please do not contact the Court.

No. Settlement Class Counsel will represent the interests of the Settlement Classes at the Fairness Hearing. You are welcome to attend in person or by telephone, depending on the format of the hearing. If you send an objection, you do not have to come to Court to talk about it. As long as your written objection is postmarked by March 1, 2023, the Court will consider it. You may also have your own lawyer attend, at your expense, but it is not necessary.

You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Fairness Hearing. To speak at the Fairness Hearing, you must send a letter or other written document saying that the letter or document is your “Notice of Intention to Appear” at the Fairness Hearing in the Bondholder Action in In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, and signature. You must send your “Notice of Intention to Appear” to the relevant addresses listed in FAQ 25. To be valid, it must be postmarked no later than March 14, 2023.

This website and the Notice summarize the proposed Subsequent Settlements and related procedures. More details are in each of the Settlement Agreements. You can view any or all of the Settlement Agreements, as well as other relevant documents on the Important Documents page. You also may write to Bondholder LIBOR Settlements, Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 3076, Portland, OR 97208-3076 or call the toll-free number, 1-888-205-5804 with questions regarding the Bondholder Action, the Settlements, your rights under the Settlements or the filing of claims. A Proof of Claim Form is provided with the Notice. You can obtain additional Proof of Claim Forms, as well as instructions on how to file them here, or by calling the toll-free number, 1-888-205-5804.