A lawsuit brought by former Citi FX trader Rohan Ramchandani against his ex-employer continues to be plagued by issues concerning evidence.

This becomes apparent by a letter submitted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on August 17, 2023 at the New York Southern District Court.

DOJ says it believes there is a continued need for confidentiality over the two categories of materials proposed for redaction: (1) grand jury materials produced by DOJ in this matter pursuant to a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) Order (ECF No. 44), and (2) DOJ’s notes from the underlying criminal investigation and related deposition testimony provided by DOJ in this matter.

Ramchandani brought this action against Citibank, his former employer. The Complaint alleges one count of malicious prosecution stemming, among other things, from Citi’s disclosure of information about Ramchandani to, and other communications with, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with an investigation into a purported criminal antitrust conspiracy arising out of Ramchandani’s role as trader in FX spot markets, and specifically the EUR/USD FX Spot market, on behalf of Citi.

In this lawsuit, Ramchandani alleges, among other things, that:

• Citi made materially misleading statements regarding Ramchandani, and provided materially misleading accounts of Ramchandani’s conduct, to the DOJ, which played an actionable role in the commencement of the DOJ’s putative criminal case against Ramchandani;
• Citi knew that the statements and accounts it provided were materially misleading and that Ramchandani had not engaged in criminal antitrust violations; and
• Citi acted with malice, within the meaning of governing law. Including by falsely identifying Ramchandani (whom Citi knew was not culpable for a criminal antitrust violation) as the single purported wrongdoer within Citi, thereby, among other things, diverting attention from other actually culpable conduct within Citi.

There have been many discovery disputes in this lawsuit so far. Back in October 2021, the Court ordered Citi to produce to Ramchandani all the material they produced to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with DOJ’s FX spot market–related investigation of Citi.

The DOJ had stated that it was open to assisting Citi in terms of providing it with the necessary evidence as the bank tries to dismiss the action brought by the ex-trader.