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The former head of SoftBank’s Vision Fund described financier Lex Greensill as “slippery and prone to lying”, according to correspondence disclosed in a complex $440mn London court battle between the Japanese conglomerate and a fund of the defunct bank Credit Suisse.
Rajeev Misra made the comment in an email to a colleague at SoftBank, whose funds were a big investor in Lex Greensill’s eponymous lending company before its collapse in 2021 triggered a sprawling political and financial scandal.
Also among a mass of evidence submitted for the high-stakes case, which began on Thursday, is an interview transcript in which Lex Greensill says his company “got thoroughly fucked” by SoftBank.
Lex Greensill is due to testify next week in the High Court trial, his first public courtroom appearance since the company failed. A person close to the Australian financier said he had voluntarily agreed to appear as a witness.
The case has been brought by a Credit Suisse fund in an attempt to recover hundreds of millions of dollars that it says investors lost following the collapse of Greensill.
Lawyers acting for the fund told the court that SoftBank “co-ordinated” with Lex Greensill’s company at the expense of its investors. The claimants contend that the co-ordination was “at the highest levels” — including between SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son and Lex Greensill.
The Credit Suisse fund claims investors lost about $440mn on notes named Fairymead, which were supposed to be secured by Greensill Capital over debts of a US construction company, Katerra.
SoftBank’s Vision Funds were investors in both Katerra and Greensill Capital, the Credit Suisse fund investors contend.
It is the latest set of legal proceedings involving the Australian, who built up close ties with politicians including the former UK prime minister David Cameron and prominent business figures such as SoftBank founder Son.
Sonia Tolaney KC, representing the Credit Suisse fund, told the court that internal email exchanges show there was “growing distrust” of Lex Greensill at SoftBank. This included Misra’s 2020 email to his colleague Katsunori Sago that described the Australian financier as “slippery”.
Tolaney also cited another email in which Sago said that if Lex Greensill was unable to get audited financial statements, the Japanese group would “sue him and David Cameron for securities fraud”.
She also claimed it was “highly suspicious” that data from Misra’s mobile phone had been wiped.
SoftBank denies the claims. Lawyers acting for the conglomerate told the court that the case was “a classic example of claimants casting around for a party with deep pockets on whom they seek to pin blame for a loss caused by their own negligence”.
About 32,000 documents had been disclosed in the proceedings, but they “do not support the claimants’ case”, they said in written submissions.
Tolaney’s claim about the mobile phone records were “misguided” and “essentially irrelevant”, SoftBank’s lawyers argued.
Greensill Capital, a supply chain finance group, acted as an intermediary between businesses and their suppliers and presented its role as helping to address the problem of slow invoice payments.
Its failure led to billions of dollars in losses for investors in its financial products, including the now-defunct Swiss bank Credit Suisse.
Tom Smith KC and Adam Al-Attar KC, for SoftBank, said in written submissions that the court was being asked “to make startling findings of nefarious conduct at the highest levels of a Japanese public company, apparently conducted for the convoluted purpose of getting hold of an essentially bankrupt construction company”.
They said Lex Greensill had “displayed hostility” towards SoftBank in parts of his 2021 interview with a liquidator, citing his comment about being “thoroughly fucked” by it.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund II provided $440mn to Greensill on the understanding that the sums would be used to repurchase or repay the outstanding Fairymead notes, the barristers said.
Smith and Al-Attar also cited another part of his interview in which Lex Greensill said it was the “absolute understanding of all of the parties” that the $440mn would be used to repay Credit Suisse.
The Australian financier said there was a “moral obligation that we would […] look after Credit Suisse”.
However, Smith and Al-Attar added: “Greensill, in fact, used the funds for other purposes.”
Greensill Limited is also listed as a defendant in the case, but the claimants are not seeking relief from it. Daniel Lewis, representing the company in liquidation, said its role at trial was expected to be “limited”.
Lex Greensill and Misra declined to comment. A spokesperson for Cameron did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
