Thursday, April 21, 2011

Investor sues Citigroup board over shoddy mortgage ops

* Shareholder wants board to pay for damage to company


* Cites cost of poor oversight of mortgage activities

* Seeks to tighten internal controls

* Follows recent agreement with regulators (Adds comment from Citigroup, paragraph 3, background on the bank's mortgage oversight changes, paragraph 10)

WILMINGTON, Del., April 20 (Reuters) - The board of Citigroup Inc (C.N) was sued by an individual shareholder for the damage done to the bank by years of shoddy mortgage and foreclosure practices, which recently led to a costly fix agreed with regulators.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in New York federal court, seeks to recover the spiraling costs stemming from numerous housing-related legal battles, from "robo-signing" lawsuits to "putback" litigation.

"We believe the suit is without merit and will defend against it vigorously," said a statement from Citigroup.

The lawsuit by Michael Brautigam, who according to court papers owns 380 shares of Citigroup, notes that the directors did not contribute any money as part of a recent agreement with the regulators.

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