Less than a fortnight after the New York Southern District Court issued its decision in a lawsuit about Citibank’s $900 million payment error, the bank has made it clear that it intends to challenge the Court’s ruling.

As FX News Group has reported, Citi lost its legal battle with Revlon lenders who got the money allegedly sent by mistake. The Court ruled that that the payments Citibank made on August 11, 2020, were final. Put otherwise, the firms that got the money will not have to return it.

Now, Citi is getting ready to appeal from the ruling. This becomes clear from a letter filed with the Court on February 23, 2021. Citi says that it intends to seek an injunction pending appeal to continue the freeze of the funds that Revlon lenders got as a result of the payment blunder.

Let’s note that, in the face of the ruling, the defendants and their clients are not yet necessarily free to do with the money what they want. Given the possibility of appeal, the defendants agreed on the record at the close of trial that, in the event of a ruling in their favor on the merits, the temporary restraining orders currently in effect should remain in place until the parties could brief, and the Court could decide, what impact the ruling has on them.

Now, Citi states that it wants the freeze of funds to remain in place according to the same terms and conditions as the existing ones. The defendants disagree. It is apparent that the fight will shift to access to the money allegedly sent by mistake.

The relevant motions are due in March.

The payment concerned Revlon’s 2016 Loan. Let’s recall that, in 2016, Revlon acquired Elizabeth Arden, Inc. The deal was partially facilitated by a seven-year, $1.8-billion loan. Brigade currently holds a portion of the loan. The Credit Agreement governs the term loans held by Brigade. Citibank serves as the administrative agent and collateral agent for the loan.

On August 11, 2020, several months of accrued interest came due under a credit agreement. The interest payment was to be processed by Citibank in its capacity as administrative agent. No other amount was due at the time, and Revlon transferred no additional funds to Citibank.

The interest payment was processed by Citibank on August 11, 2020. Due to issues with the loan-processing system, the payment to each lender was on average more than 100 times the interest that was actually due. Brigade was one of the lenders that received an overpayment.

This operational mistake caused Citibank to transfer approximately $900 million of its own money to parties that were not entitled to it. When Citibank discovered the mistake, it promptly asked the recipients to return its money. Some recipients did return the money, but some did not.