Following close on the heels of the Massachusetts regulator’s action filed last week against Madoff feeder-fund Fairfield Greenwich and related individuals, on April 6, 2009, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo initiated a civil action in New York (New York County) Supreme Court against J. Ezra Merkin and Madoff feeder fund Gabriel Capital Corporation. The
A Case of Divided Loyalties
The possibility that a conflict of interest could arise when an attorney or law firm simultaneously representes a corporation and one or more of its officers or directors is a a frequently recurring issue. The issue was raised recently, for example, in the civil complaint that former Stanford Financial Group CFO Laura Pendergest-Holt filed against the
IPO Laddering Cases Settled for $586 Million
The consolidated IPO Laddering Cases, that superannuated vestige of a long-gone era that has continued to grind on despite numerous procedural setbacks, apparently has been settled (again), at least according to the parties’ April 1, 2009 settlement stipulation (here). Hat tip to the WSJ.com Law Blog for the link to the
Will the Recession Cause a Hard Insurance Market?
The global financial crisis has produced challenges across the entire economy, but the financial sector, where all the problems arguably began, has been particularly hard hit. While the most investment firms and other banking institutions may have experienced the most dramatic consequences, insurance companies have also been swept up in the whirlwind.
The extent
PwC Releases 2008 Securities Litigation Study
On April 1, 2009, PricewaterhouseCoopers issued this year’s version of its annual study of securities class action litigation (here). The PwC report differs in certain particulars from previously released studies of the 2008 securities lawsuit filings, but the overall findings are directionally consistent with the prior reports. The PwC report also adds some
The Bank Failure Capital of the World?
Georgia’s banks have issues. The state has led the nation in the number of bank failures since January 1, 2008, a fact that earlier this year (even before the most recent round of closures) led the Wall Street Journal (here) to describe the Atlanta area as "the bank failure capital of the world."
More Auction Rate Securities Litigation
Earlier this week, I suggested (here) that the UBS auction rate securities lawsuit dismissal did not spell the end of the auction rate securities litigation. Two of the categories of likely future litigation involving auction rate securities I mentioned were lawsuits involving institutional investors (who are not covered, at least immediately, by many
New Century Trustee Sues KPMG; Will Other Gatekeeper Claims Follow?
In a development that may foreshadow further "gatekeeper" claims as part of the current credit crisis litigation wave, on April 1, 2009, the trustee for the New Century Financial Corp. liquidation initiated lawsuits in California and New York against KPMG and its international parent, seeking to recover $1 billion in damages for negligence and for
Mass. Regulator Accuses Madoff Feeder Fund of “Fraud”
In an April 1, 2009 administrative complaint (here), Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin accused Madoff feeder fund Fairfield Greenwich Advisors and its Bermuda affiliate of "complete disregard of its fiduciary duties to its investors" and of "flagrant recurring misrepresentations" that "rise to the level of fraud."
If you have
Heightened Securities Lawsuit Filing Pace Continues in 1Q09
Largely driven by litigation in the financial sector arising from the ongoing credit crisis, the heightened pace of securities filings continued during the first quarter of 2009.
There were a total of 57 separate, new securities class action lawsuits filed during the first quarter. The 57 new securities lawsuits represents an annualized pace of