Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [official website] charged [press release] Barclays [corporate website] and four of its former executives on Tuesday with conspiracy to commit fraud and violation of the Companies Act of 1985 by providing unlawful financial assistance. The case concerns agreements between Barclay’s and Qatari investors during the 2008 financial crisis. According to Reuters [report], “Qatar Holding, part of the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund, and Challenger, an investment vehicle of former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, invested around 5.3 billion pounds in Barclays.” Barclays accepted the funds to avoid government bailouts during the economic decline. Authorities are investigating whether those funds were properly and honestly disclosed. Currently, “Barclays is considering its position in relation to these developments,” the bank stated in a press release [PDF]. The four individuals face a maximum sentence of 10 years for each charge of fraud and Barclays will be heavily fined. The men will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 3. Qatar, a major UK investor, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

This is not the first legal challenge Barclays has faced recently. In December the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a civil suit [JURIST report] against Barclays Bank [official website] and two former executives for the fraudulent sales of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) from 2005 to 2007. Additionally, several other banks have been under scrutiny [JURIST backgrounder] since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Late last year, Deutsche reached [JURIST report] a $7.2 billion deal with the Department of Justice. In September the US National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) [official website] said that the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) [official website] will pay $1.1 billion [JURIST report] after it allegedly solid toxic mortgaged-backed securities. In February, Morgan Stanley [official website] agreed to pay [JURIST report] $3.2 billion related to their mortgage-back securities. In July 2014 Citigroup, Inc. agreed to pay $7 billion to settle a federal inquiry [JURIST report] into mortgage-backed securities sold by the bank prior to the country’s financial crisis. In November 2013 the DOJ announced that a $13 billion civil settlement [JURIST report] with JPMorgan & Co. [official website] has been finalized, resolving federal and state claims arising from the bank’s risky mortgage practices which helped lead to the 2008 financial crisis.