Since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, would-be claimants who purchased shares of a non-U.S. company outside the U.S. have struggled to find a way to pursue their claims in U.S. courts. Among other things, these claimants have tried to avoid Morrison’s federal securities claim-preclusive effect by
Has the Whistleblower Moment Arrived? SEC Awards Whistleblower More Than $14 Million
It is not the first whistleblower award under the Dodd Frank Act’s whistleblower bounty program but the “more than $14 million” award to an anonymous whistleblower that the SEC announced on October 1, 2013 is by far the largest so far. The size of the award raises the question of what the award may
More About Stories We’re Following: Libor Scandal, FIRREA, Chinese Company Securities Suits
NCUA Files Libor Manipulatoin Antitrust Suit: Even though the federal judge presiding over the consolidated Libor antitrust litigation has granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the antitrust claims, the federal credit union regulatory agency has filed a new action against Libor rate-setting banks alleging violation of the Sherman Act. As described in the National Credit
A Closer Look at JP Morgan’s $920 Million “London Whale” Regulatory Settlements
As part of its September 19, 2013 entry into a total of $920 million in regulatory settlements related to the “London Whale” trading loss debacle, and as part of the SEC’s new policy requiring admissions of wrongdoing in certain “egregious” cases, JP Morgan provided the SEC with an extensive set of factual admissions. The company’s
Corruption Allegations: More Securities Suits Against U.S.-Listed Chinese Companies?
As many readers will recall, a couple of years ago there was an intense barrage of securities litigation class action lawsuit filings against U.S.-listed Chinese companies. Many of the cases involved Chinese companies that obtained their U.S. listings by way of a reverse merger with publicly traded shell, and almost all of the cases involved alleged
The SEC’s New Policy Requiring Admissions of Wrongdoing: What Are the Implications?
On August 19, 2013, in connection with its entry into a settlement with New York-based hedge fund adviser Phillip Falcone and his advisory firm Harbinger Capital Partners, the SEC for the first time implemented its new policy requiring defendants seeking to settle civil enforcement actions to provide admissions of wrongdoing, in contrast to the long-standing
Japanese Securities Litigation Trends: 2000-2012
The volume of misstatement-related securities litigation in Japan has “increased dramatically” since the 2004 revisions to Japanese securities laws, according to a June 2013 report from the consulting firm Alix Partners. The report, entitled “Recent Trends in Japanese Securities Litigation: 2000-2012,” can be found here. Even though misstatement-related securities suit filings in Japan were
Cornerstone Research: Securities Suits “Depressed” in Year’s First Half
Securities class action lawsuit filings “remained at depressed levels” during the first half of 2013 according to the latest report from Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse. The report, entitled “Securities Class Action Filings: 2013 Mid-Year Assessment,” can be found here. The organizations’ July 24, 2013 press release about
Advisen Reports on Second Quarter 2013 Corporate and Securities Litigation
New corporate and securities lawsuits filings in the second quarter of 2013 were “down dramatically” compared to 2013’s first quarter, according to the quarterly D&O Claims Trends report of insurance industry information firm Advisen, which was released today and which can be found here. At the current filing level, the total of all corporate
The Confidential Witness Problem in Securities Litigation
Largely as a result of the pre-dismissal motion discovery bar and the heighted pleading standard Congress and the courts have imposed, the plaintiffs in these cases increasingly have come to rely on the statements of confidential witnesses in attempting to plead securities fraud cases, a development that has become the target of extensive criticism.