A U.S. judge on Tuesday dismissed most of an investor lawsuit accusing major banks of conspiring to manipulate the benchmark European Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor.

In a 100-page decision, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan said several claims in the proposed class action must fail because of a lack of evidence that the defendants conspired to restrain trade or because they involved foreign conduct. He also said only 2 of the 6 plaintiffs had antitrust standing: the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS); and, Greenwich, CT-based FrontPoint Australian Opportunities Trust.

Euribor is the euro-denominated equivalent of Libor, a benchmark for setting rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars of debt, including for credit cards, student loans and mortgages.

The defendants were accused of violating the Sherman Act, a U.S. antitrust law, by conspiring to rig Euribor and fix prices of Euribor-based derivatives from June 2005 to March 2011 to benefit their own positions.

The judge said investors may pursue one antitrust claim and 2 common law claims against Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.

Other defendants included Credit Agricole, Rabobank RBS, SocGen and UBS, as well as electronic broker-dealer ICAP. Barclays and HSBC previously settled for $94Mn and $45Mn, respectively; claims against Deutsche Bank were put on hold and BNP Paribas was dismissed as a defendant.