Bear Sued by Barclays Over B&C Hedge Funds

Barclays Bank of London, which lent $400 million to two subprime hedge funds managed by Bear Stearns & Co., has sued the Wall Street firm, charging that Bear misled it about the performance of the funds.The funds -- High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund, and High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund -- filed for bankruptcy protection in the Cayman Islands this summer. Barclays is owed money by the firms. The funds were managed by two Bear executives: Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin. Mr. Cioffi recently left Bear. At deadline time, Bear Stearns had not commented on the suit. The failure of the funds is the subject of a criminal probe and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.