The CEO and CFO of Silicon Valley Bank, Greg Becker and Daniel Beck, respectively, are facing legal action from shareholders who allege abuse of power.
The group of shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit against the bank and its top executives in a federal court in California.
According to the lawsuit, Becker and Beck are accused of withholding information about the Federal Reserve’s increase in interest rates, which reportedly led to a liquidity crisis and impacted the bank’s client business model.
The plaintiffs also claim that the bank’s competitive position was significantly weakened compared to other retail banks.
The lawsuit demands that SVB’s management disclose the relationship between the bank’s cryptocurrency-focused client policy and the administration’s declared losses of $1.8 billion from the sale of assets.
The shareholders are also seeking unspecified damages for harm caused to them between June 16, 2021, and March 10, 2023.
This legal action comes in the wake of allegations by Barney Frank, a board member of Signature, another troubled cryptocurrency bank, who accused US regulators of unfairly discrediting the crypto industry by exploiting the situation surrounding Silvergate and SVB.