The Financial Times in London reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc lost its high-profile legal dispute against the U.S. hedge fund Highland.

According to a Financial Times report, the dispute centered on RBS' decision on 2008 to terminate the collateralized debt obligation or CDO of the hedge fund for Highland at the peak of the financial crisis.

The earlier ruling that gave favor to RBS had been found to be fraudulent by three senior judges since it was wrongly obtained by one of its bankers who gave dishonest evidence in the court. Back in 2010, earlier court ruling said that RBS' decision was legal. The court though was critical of the actions of Sam Griffiths, a former banker and a leveraged loan trader, and RBS. Highland filed an appeal to reverse the decision of the earlier court to the Court of Appeals.

A decision was issued on Friday reversing the earlier finding of the previous court and set it aside. Lord Justice Aitkens ruled, "In my view the liability judgment was obtained by the fraud of RBS through the misstatement and concealment of facts by Sam Griffiths."