Practice Areas
Securities
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February 22, 2012
Wynn's Largest Stockholder Vows Suit Over Cash-Out
Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s top shareholder, who has already sued the casino operator to examine records over his investments, vowed more litigation Tuesday over Steve Wynn's recent move to unilaterally cash out his shares over allegations that he violated anti-corruption laws.
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February 22, 2012
Watchdog Chides FHFA Over $100M Fannie Legal Fees
A federal watchdog agency on Wednesday expressed concern over mounting legal fees reaching $100 million in taxpayer money used to defend ex-Fannie Mae executives facing securities fraud allegations.
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February 22, 2012
UBS Can't Blame Highland Affiliates For $686M In Losses: Atty
A Highland Capital Management LP attorney urged a New York state appeals court Wednesday to dismiss its affiliates from UBS AG's $686 million lawsuit claiming the affiliates tricked UBS into restructuring a debt securities agreement, then made repayment impossible.
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February 22, 2012
Stanford Receiver Targets 2 Law Firms Over $1.8B
Robert Allen Stanford receiver Ralph S. Janvey hit two Louisiana law firms with a lawsuit last week alleging they helped the Ponzi schemer fraudulently obtain state approval for one of his companies, referred clients in exchange for benefits and misappropriated more than $1.8 billion.
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February 22, 2012
Cobalt Reveals FCPA Probe Of Angola Oil Business
U.S. regulators have launched a formal probe into allegations that one of Cobalt International Energy Inc.’s oil drilling contractors bribed foreign officials in Angola, Cobalt said Tuesday.
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February 22, 2012
6th Circ. Revives GM Workers' ERISA Suit Against State Street
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a lower court's dismissal of a putative class action alleging State Street Bank & Trust Co. violated federal employment law by allowing General Motors employees to invest in the company's stock even after GM's impending bankruptcy became public knowledge.
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February 22, 2012
Sealink Hits BofA, Citi, Others With $949M RMBS Claims
Irish financial firm Sealink Funding Ltd. on Tuesday hit a group of big banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Citigroup Inc. with a summons claiming they misrepresented the credit ratings of $949 million worth of investments in residential mortgage-backed securities.
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February 22, 2012
Pegasus, RCF Accused Of Molycorp Pump-And-Dump Scheme
Shareholders of rare earth oxide producer Molycorp Inc. on Tuesday launched a derivative suit accusing the company's board and private equity backers RCF Management LLC and Pegasus Capital Advisors LP of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme that netted more than $1.5 billion in ill-gotten gains for the alleged perpetrators.
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February 22, 2012
Gupta Tries To Get Insider Trading Charge Wiped Out
Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta sought to dismiss one of the six securities fraud counts against him Tuesday, arguing prosecutors had neglected to identify the specific trades he allegedly influenced by sharing inside information with imprisoned Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam.
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February 22, 2012
Ex-KBR Exec Gets Probation, Fine For Nigerian Bribes
A former executive for one-time Halliburton Co. subsidiary KBR Inc. was sentenced Wednesday in Texas federal court to one year of unsupervised probation and a $20,000 fine for his part in a scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials for natural gas contracts.
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February 22, 2012
German Bank Takes RBS To Court Over $71M In RMBS
German bank Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg sued Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and affiliated entities in New York state court Tuesday over alleged misrepresentations connected to the securitization and sale of $71 million in residential mortgage-backed securities.
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February 22, 2012
EU Ministers Crack Down On Short Selling, CDS
European Union finance ministers on Tuesday adopted a new regulation cracking down on short selling and credit default swaps, which have been blamed for market volatility.
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February 22, 2012
Charity's Suit Over $10M Bloom Fraud Trimmed
A New York state judge on Wednesday threw out fraud claims brought by a charity accusing an accounting firm and a hedge fund director of helping convicted North Hills Management LLC hedge fund boss Mark Bloom work a $9.75 million criminal tax shelter scheme.
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February 22, 2012
SEC Accuses Puda Coal Execs Of Looting Co.
U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday accused two Puda Coal Inc. executives of looting their company and swindling investors by telling them they were investing in a Chinese coal business when they were actually investing in an empty shell company.
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February 22, 2012
Suit Says Broker DLA Duped Elderly In $300M REIT Sales
New York-based brokerage firm David Lerner Associates Inc. was hit with a putative class action Tuesday for allegedly misleading elderly and unsophisticated clients into buying more than $300 million worth of securities from two real estate investment trusts.
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February 22, 2012
Toyota Can't Narrow Shareholder Suit Over Defects
A California federal judge on Tuesday rejected Toyota Motor Corp.’s bid to throw out part of a putative class action alleging the car maker inflated its stock price by misleading the public about a brake defect.
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February 21, 2012
Fund Objects To $70M Bank Settlement In Rothstein Case
CBM Capital LLC on Tuesday opposed a $70 million settlement between Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust and bankruptcy trustees over Gibraltar's alleged involvement in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme perpetrated by former attorney Scott Rothstein.
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February 21, 2012
2nd Circ. Bars Trusts From $138M Biovail, Investors Deal
The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld a decision to exclude four investment trusts from a $138 million settlement between Biovail Corp. and shareholders, saying the fact that the founder had a controlling interest in them was an appropriate reason for disqualification.
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February 21, 2012
Picard's $59B Racketeering Claims Against UniCredit Axed
A New York federal judge on Tuesday tossed racketeering claims against UniCredit SpA and an affiliate in a $59 billion suit lodged by Bernard L. Madoff's bankruptcy trustee, ruling that they had been insufficiently pled.
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February 21, 2012
CFTC Puts Off 'Swap Dealer' Definition Vote
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday pushed back voting on a final rule spelling out a definition for "swap dealers" that some businesses have contended is too broad and could unnecessarily expose them to costly regulations.
Expert Analysis
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Eye On Japan's Financial Reform Efforts
One of the most contentious areas of debate between foreign investors and Japanese management has been over the issue of independent board directors. Foreign investors are demanding more independent outside directors on the boards of Japanese companies while, not surprisingly, Japanese management is resisting, says David Makman of Makman LLP.
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The Aftermath Of Assured Guaranty V. JP Morgan
With its elimination of the Martin Act preemption defense to common-law claims, the New York Court of Appeals decision in Assured Guaranty (UK) Ltd. v. J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. presents a new opportunity for plaintiffs in New York securities litigation, and ushers in new burdens for defendants, say attorneys with Jones Day.
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Case Study: Cedeno V. Castillo
After the Second Circuit's decisions in Eligio Cedeno v. Castillo and Norex Petrol. Ltd. v. Access Indus. Inc., it seems clear there are no circumstances under which the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act will apply to conduct occurring almost entirely outside of the United States, regardless of its U.S. effects, say attorneys with Mayer Brown LLP.
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The Irredeemable Relevance Of SEC Enforcement Action
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a cease-and-desist order against Fifth Third Bancorp that, despite unusual circumstances, is relevant to any company that plans to redeem any of its publicly held securities, such as utility or other energy companies that commonly have redeemable debt securities or preferred stock outstanding, say attorneys with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
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Review: Recent Securities Litigation, Rising Trends
While credit crisis-related litigation continued in 2011, it has extended beyond the securities class action realm, as evidenced by a recent surge in mortgage-backed securities actions. Another trend has been the increase in M&A-related securities litigation, something we expect to continue in the coming year, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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Law School, Meet Litigation PR ...
The single most important thing law schools can do to manage their reputations in the face of litigation is apply the lessons learned from Wall Street during the recent financial crisis and strive for transparency in all communications. One need only look to Goldman Sachs’ woes or the struggles of Jon Corzine’s MF Global as examples of the catastrophic results of a campaign based on anything but complete honesty, says Spencer Baretz of Hellerman Baretz Communications.
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2012 Regulatory Watch List: Commodity ETF Industry
Due in large part to the Dodd-Frank Act and increased scrutiny by regulators of the financial and commodities markets, 2012 promises to bring a host of new regulatory requirements and issues for the commodity exchange-traded-funds industry, say attorneys with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.
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Guesstimating Loss For Sentencing
The four methods proposed by the U.S. Sentencing Commission for determination of loss in securities fraud cases can result in either a severe underestimation or overestimation of losses. At a minimum, the method used should adjust the inflation over time and account for the volume of shares involved, says David Tabak of NERA Economic Consulting.
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Allowing Discovery Of A Confidential Witness's Identity
Two recent decisions in the Southern District of New York — Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union No. 630 Pension-Annuity Trust Fund v. Arbitron Inc. and In re Bear Stearns Companies Inc. — bring a much-needed practical approach to the issue of whether the identities of confidential witnesses may be discovered, say attorneys with Sidley Austin LLP.
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10 Lessons From 2011 Enforcement Activity
The cases brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2011 solidify the SEC's and the DOJ's well-settled positions on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement. There are 10 lessons from these actions that are likely to influence how 2012 will unfold, say Claudius Sokenu and Arthur Luk of Arnold & Porter LLP.