Securities Fraud Investment Disputes

• Arbitrated claim by investor that his account was mismanaged by investment adviser, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and fraud, violation of securities statutes.
• Arbitrated significant securities fraud claims arising from a private placement to be invested in regarding a significant technology program which did not materialize.
• Mediated matter where elderly woman attended an investment seminar and was introduced to an insurance agent who met with her and her son where they discussed a structured cash flow investment as well as an annuity, after which she invested $150,000 in each. She died the following year. The structured cash flow investment paid out approximately $60,000 before the promoter ran out of funds, and her son as executor cashed out the annuity. Her son brought suit for elder abuse and other torts, and also for sale of unregistered securities by an insurance salesman with no securities or investment advisor license.
• Mediated a matter where plaintiff brought breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and accounting claims arising from investment in a restaurant allegedly in order to obtain an investor visa, with defendant claiming she was not an investor, but had loaned funds to others who had invested.
• Mediated a statutory claim against unlicensed investment advisory and unregistered broker dealer activity by defendant, who engaged in speculative trading creating large losses.
• Handled a matter involving a $350 million securities fraud lawsuit arising out of a $1 billion stock purchase agreement between two Fortune 100 companies of an aerospace business. The suit alleged that there were misrepresentations in financial statements. The matter was resolved with a high eight figure settlement.
• Handled a matter involving an SEC receiver and eight foreign banks and the cash custodian for a private equity fund which raised over $1 billion through a series of debt offerings through offshore special purpose entities, then looted the funds through multiple means. The matter was resolved with a high eight figure settlement.
• Handled a class action and other related actions involving an AmLaw 100 firm brought by investors who purchased real estate investment products, alleging legal malpractice, securities fraud, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and negligent misrepresentation. Total investor losses exceeded $900 million.
• Handled a matter between a class of investors and a national accounting firm arising from the bankruptcy of a major homebuilder, alleging errors in accounting for net realizable value write-offs and deferred tax asset estimates among other issues. Plaintiffs sought $95 million in damages.
• Handled several related claims in a $70 million matter involving a surplus lines insurance carrier which issued financial guarantee bonds related to the financing of real estate limited partnerships, leading to fraud and racketeering claims, debt enforcement actions, securities claims, and litigation with bond lenders, reinsurers, and professionals.
• Handled a matter involving a customer of a securities broker that was involved in a $50 million charitable gift annuity fraud scheme. A promoter transferred donated stocks and bonds into a brokerage account to liquidate them and rapidly transfer the funds out to other financial institutions. The promoter told the victims that the broker was managing their money, when it was not.
• Handled related matters involving two broker-dealers, officers and directors, investors and a law firm arising from asset-backed promissory notes related to pools of ATMs that were to have been placed in bankruptcy proof special purpose entities, generating streams of income from swipe fees to pay the debt, which were eventually looted causing $30 million in losses.
• Handled related matters brought by over 100 investors in oil and gas limited partnerships sponsored by the same general partner, alleging $20 million in damages, based on securities racketeering and common law claims based on alleged misstatements in prospectuses.
• Handled a bondholder class action securities matter involving an electric utility and the indenture trustee of certain first mortgage bonds arising out of the redemption of certain bonds at par value which the bondholders claimed should have been redeemed at a premium.
• Handled a matter involving a large investor alleging securities fraud and negligent misrepresentation by a Los Angeles Koreatown bank and its officers and directors relating to alleged misleading financial statements and financial disclosures.
• Handled a matter among three doctors where one alleged that the others committed fraud and breach of fiduciary concerning his sale to them of his one third interest in a surgery center by concealing it regulatory status and right to reimbursements from Medicare and Blue Cross.
• Handled a matter involving a securities broker which had promoted an Irish pharmaceutical company to its customers which suffered a major drop in stock price when several clinical trials produced unfavorable results.
• Handled a matter between a brokerage house and a customer and her financial adviser involving trading by the financial adviser in stock index options with the customer alleging churning and unsuitable investments and seeking $5 million in damages.
• Handled a matter involving a complex investment fraud and fraudulent tax shelter Ponzi scheme, involving securities and and tax fraud claims involving commodities and limited partnerships investments.
• Handled a matter involving conspiracy, fraud, securities fraud and misapplication of funds by officers of an interstate motor carrier.
• Handled a matter related to a securities fraud and bank fraud scheme perpetrated by the chief executive of a federally-insured credit union.
• Handled a matter concerning an investment fraud scheme involving waste products fuel processes.
• Handled a matter concerning a securities fraud scheme involving investments in a cattle-breeding operation.
• Handled a matter where investors alleged fraud and racketeering against a savings and loan association relating to alleged loan origination fraud involving securitized mobile home loans.