KPMG approved the bank’s annual financial report two weeks before its collapse
Investors filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court in San Francisco against KPMG, in its capacity as auditor of the US Bank “Silicon Valley”, and against the managers of the bank’s stock and bond issues, most notably “Goldman Sachs”, “Morgan Stanley” and Bank of America.
The lawsuit alleges that the aforementioned institutions provided misleading information that contributed to the collapse of the bank.
According to the lawsuit, these institutions misjudged the strength of the bank’s balance sheet, the amount of its liquidity and its position in the market.
The lawsuit indicated that the bank’s executives and auditors underestimated and concealed the risks faced by the bank, which caused the collapse of the value of its portfolio of securities.
The lawsuit accuses the bank’s stock and bond issue managers of making misleading statements about the bank’s share offerings.
The lawsuit also accused KPMG of approving the bank’s annual financial report two weeks before its collapse, ignoring the existence of risks associated with the depreciation of deposits and the bank’s ability to hold debt securities until their maturity date.