Rio Tinto Group must face a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit over the company’s valuation of coal assets in Mozambique, a federal judge ruled.
US authorities in October 2017 filed fraud charges against London-based Rio Tinto, former CEO Tom Albanese and former CFO Guy Elliott, claiming they inflated the value of assets acquired in 2011 for $3.7-billion. The assets were sold for $50-million in 2014, a year after more than $3-billion in writedowns on the properties led to Albanase’s departure.