Former Baugur boss Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson has resigned from the board of department store group house of Fraser after a $2bn fraud lawsuit was filed against him in the US.

Jóhannesson tendered his resignation on Thursday, the Financial Times reported, almost four years after he led the consortium that took House of Fraser private.

The winding-up board of Icelandic bank Glitnir this week accused Johannesson of  a “sweeping conspiracy” to “fraudulently drain over $2bn out of the bank” when he was its leading shareholder before its collapse in 2008.

Jóhannesson has denied the allegations.

People familiar with the situation said his position on the House of Fraser board had become untenable after the UK High Court issued a freezing order on his worldwide assets in connection with the US lawsuit.

At the height of its power, Baugur controlled a swathe of the UK high street until it also collapsed following the Icelandic financial crisis.

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