Barclays has claimed that Bear Stearns used one of its imploded hedge funds to unload "excessively risky or troubled assets", in the latest lawsuit to hit the bank which today reported a steep plunge in yearly profits.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday in US Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, Barclays alleged that Bear Stearns knew for months that certain assets in the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Master Fund were were worth "far less" than the bank had claimed.