Securities Law

New Indictment Expands Case Against Madoff Ex-Employees, Says Securities Fraud Started in 1970s

Five former longtime employees at Bernard Madoff’s now-defunct investment firm are facing new charges, in an expanded new indictment. The new indictment is apparently based on information provided by others who have taken pleas in the $20 billion swindle for which their former boss is serving a 150-year prison term.…

Oct 2, 2012 4:24 PM CDT

Attorneys Who Represent Whistleblowers Are Helping Obama Re-election Campaign Raise Funds

Attorneys who represent whistleblowers have won some big awards in recent years, as the Obama administration cracked down on corporate fraud. Now, in an effort to keep their practice growing, they are giving back to the Democratic presidential campaign, reports the New York Times (reg. req.). As Republican nominee Mitt…

Oct 1, 2012 9:46 PM CDT

2 Law Firms Poised to Collect $300M Del. Chancery Attorney’s Fee Award, Plus $212K Daily Interest

A well-known Wilmington, Del., law firm and its Pennsylvania-based co-counsel are poised to collect one of the biggest legal-fee awards ever made in a securities class action, after the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday rejected a motion for reargument of the massive payout, which at last report totaled about $305…

Sep 24, 2012 4:46 PM CDT

3 States Sign On to Challenge Dodd-Frank Law

Attorneys general from Michigan, Oklahoma and South Carolina have joined a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law overhauling financial oversight practices in the United States and creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute and a small bank in Texas filed the suit…

Sep 24, 2012 10:52 AM CDT

Federal Judge OKs Suit Against SEC re Alleged 12-Year Delay Alerting SIPC of Allen Stanford Fraud

Rejecting a claim that the judicial branch lacks jurisdiction to tell the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission what to do when fraud is suspected, a federal judge in Miami has given the green light to a lawsuit brought against the SEC by investors who say they lost millions in the…

Sep 10, 2012 5:24 PM CDT

Investors Class Action Against Goldman Sachs Revived in 2nd Circuit

A class action against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. brought by investors who claim the investment bank misled them about risks that come with mortgage securities was revived Thursday in the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The finding reverses a 2010 judgement dismissing the action, Bloomberg News…

Sep 6, 2012 8:50 PM CDT

Legal Rebels 2012: If the Shoe Fits…

This is our fourth iteration of the ABA Journal’s Legal Rebels, our annual nod to lawyers who are helping change the profession in ways both big and small. These are the innovators—the folks who’ve found a different path, some new way to blend the needs of their clients or their…

Sep 1, 2012 10:40 AM CDT

Citigroup to Settle Investor Suit over CDO Losses for $590M

Citigroup has agreed to pay $590 million to settle an investor lawsuit that claims the bank failed to disclose its holdings in collateralized debt obligations backed by subprime mortgages. Citigroup denied wrongdoing and said it settled because of the uncertainties and expense of litigation, report the Wall Street Journal (sub.…

Aug 30, 2012 2:46 PM CDT

BigLaw Firm to Pay $25M to Settle Litigation over Its Representation of Convicted Ponzi Schemer

Holland & Knight has agreed to pay $25 million to settle litigation filed on behalf of investors who lost money with convicted Ponzi schemer Arthur Nadel. The law firm did not admit wrongdoing. In a statement, Holland & Knight general counsel Michael Chapman said the agreement with a court-appointed receiver…

Aug 29, 2012 1:15 PM CDT

Ex-Client Sues Firm re ‘Massive Overbilling,’ Partner Says ‘Meritless’ Suit a Bill Dispute Tactic

A former client has sued a New York-based law firm in federal court for malpractice, accusing Wilk Auslander of “massive overbilling for needless work” while defending several securities class actions. In the suit (PDF), which was filed Monday in the Central District of California, ex-client Westport Capital Inc. and two…

Aug 28, 2012 7:57 PM CDT

Top Del. Court OKs Record $300M Attorney Fee Award; Objector Said It Pays Counsel $35K Per Hour

In an en banc decision Monday, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a record $300 million attorney fee award in a shareholder derivative suit. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which handled the appeal, argued that Chancellor Leo E. Strine Jr., who serves as chief judge of the state’s highly regarded chancery court,…

Aug 28, 2012 4:05 PM CDT

DOJ Civil Fraud Penalties Rise, While Few Individuals Face Charges

Corporations this year will likely pay as much as $8 billion to settle charges of defrauding the U.S. government, the New York Times reports, and that is twice as much as what was assessed last year by the Justice Department. However, some question the lack of charges against executives running…

Aug 7, 2012 7:32 PM CDT

Sued for Malpractice, Law Firm Fires Back with Fraud Claim, Seeks Freeze on Former Client Assets

As a Chicago law firm tells the story, it got stuck with a client from hell. Kenneth and Wendy Brown were difficult to reach and rejected legal advice when James Koch of Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona represented them in a Securities and Exchange Commission matter, Koch says in a…

Aug 7, 2012 4:52 PM CDT

Initially Defiant re ‘Fresh-Faced Eager Beavers’ from FBI, Kinnucan Takes Plea

After making headlines when he publicly proclaimed his innocence and said he had refused to cooperate and wear a wire in a federal investigation, the founder of Broadband Research LLC pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan in an insider-trading case. John Kinnucan, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and…

Jul 26, 2012 3:19 PM CDT

Research Firm Chief Who Nixed FBI Wire, Proclaimed Innocence in Client Email Expected to Take a Plea

The head of an independent research firm who publicly proclaimed his innocence and said he refused to wear a wire when approached in 2010 by federal agents pursuing a major insider-trading probe is now expected to take a plea. John Kinnucan, 55, is likely to appear in federal court in…

Jul 25, 2012 3:52 PM CDT