In another case stemming from the Wall Street meltdown, a
federal judge in July found that the government’s emergency economic legislation voided Citigroup’s federally assisted $2.16 billion agreement to take over failing Wachovia Corp. Wells Fargo & Co. ultimately acquired the bank for $12.7 billion without FDIC assistance.
Citigroup sought damages of as much as $60 billion in the failed takeover, but Judge Shira A. Scheindlin found in Wachovia Corp. v. Citigroup Inc. that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, signed into law Oct. 3, 2008, rendered the initial exclusivity agreement unenforceable. That was the same day the Wells Fargo transaction was announced.
