Wells Fargo & Co. faces a second Minnesota trial over claims by institutional investors that the bank marketed a risky securities-lending program as safe and cost them millions of dollars in losses, Bloomberg News reported today. The case is one of at least five in Minnesota against Wells Fargo over its securities lending. Wells Fargo lost the first to go to trial in 2010, when a state court jury awarded Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association and three charitable foundations about $30 million, a judgment that was upheld on appeal. Wells Fargo is scheduled for a third trial on the same claims from different plaintiffs in September, brought as a class action or group lawsuit on behalf of about 100 institutional investors. Two other cases are also pending in federal court, including one by Minnesota Life Insurance Co. seeking $40 million in damages.
