SYDNEY, Australia—The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is facing a second shareholder class action after agreeing to pay $700 million to settle anti-money laundering claims by the government’s financial intelligence agency.
Boutique law firm Phi Finney McDonald filed the action in the federal court on behalf of four giant U.S. pension funds, including the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a fund worth $224 billion, Lawyerly reported.
PFM director Tim Finney said the case, filed three weeks after CBA agreed to pay the record sum to settle Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre’s (AUSTRAC) action, was being financed by litigation funder Therium.
It’s a closed class action, he said, open only to a small but wealthy group of investors that sought an alternative funding arrangement from that of the first class action, filed by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in October, Lawyerly reported.
“We’re acting on behalf of a very informed and sophisticated group,” Finney said.