Citi's Lawyers Never Sleep
Citigroup may be struggling to remain solvent amid the global financial meltdown, but don't think that the bank's attorneys at Skadden Arps are too busy with the crisis to defend Citi's good name. Yesterday the bank took action against Citi-Mobile, a Glendale, California-based company responsible for some of those ridiculous "mobile billboards" that manage to both clog up city streets and destroy the environment at the same time. The much bigger Citi, which Skadden rather optimistically describes in court docs as "one of the largest and most renowned" banks in the world, is a little bit concerned that the public will think the financial giant decided to buy a bunch of trucks, paint them crazy colors, and make money by marketing roast beef subs and cameras to innocent pedestrians. So they're asking a court to prohibit Citi-Mobile (and its parent company Citi-Advertising) from using the hallowed "Citi" name. Here's a thought: Why not just acquire the company? Citigroup would diversify a bit. And the mobile billboard business can't be any riskier than the financial services industry these days, can it? The full lawsuit after the jump.