Civil Litigation and Arbitration
Our investment fund litigators have handled numerous jury trials and bench trials involving disputes among principals of hedge fund managers and investment advisors, disputes with investors, shareholder derivative litigation, and “claw back” claims in bankruptcy proceedings. Representative matters include:
- Represented a large commodity pool operator in a variety of actions stemming from the Refco bankruptcy. We successfully recovered all our client’s assets from the Refco bankruptcy estate following a trial in the New York bankruptcy court, and achieved dismissal of derivative actions brought by investors.
- Represented a private equity fund in the purchase price adjustment claim of a portfolio company.
- Represented a large foreign bank in litigation in Florida regarding the bank’s investment in a hedge fund that had suspended redemptions.
- Represented a large foreign bank, which acted as an investment advisor, in a securities fraud action in the Eastern District of Virginia involving claims stemming from alleged accounting fraud.
- Defended a brokerage firm charged with securities fraud in the Northern District of Illinois based on alleged commercial bribery of traders.
- Represented a hedge fund in a trial in Delaware bankruptcy court in a “claw back” action by the Trustee in the SemGroup bankruptcy proceeding.
- Defended a hedge fund against investors’ fraud claims in a 23-day trial in Cook County Circuit Court.
- Represented hedge funds in a variety of actions in Minnesota bankruptcy court, District Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals relating to the Petters Ponzi scheme.
- Represented several large public companies in actions against the Reserve Funds when those funds “broke the buck.”
- Represented a large pooled investment vehicle in “claw back” and related litigation in the Northern District of Illinois against the liquidation trustee for Sentinel Management Group, a failed investment advisor and futures commission merchant.
- Brought suit on behalf of a large “fund of funds” against a real estate investment fund that had breached contractual obligations governing investment.
We have also brought and defended numerous arbitration claims for various investment funds clients. Representative matters include:
- Represented a hedge fund manager headquartered in Chicago in AAA arbitration involving claims brought by a third-party marketer claiming that it was entitled to solicitation fees.
- Represented a London hedge fund manager in disputes with a co-investor in AAA arbitration.
- Represented a large investment manager in an AAA arbitration against customer claims relating to multi-million dollar losses sustained from investment in Madoff Securities.
- Represented a large foreign bank in JAMS arbitration brought by a hedge fund manager in connection with an alleged promise of “seed” investment by the bank.
- Represented a Cayman Islands segregated portfolio company/credit opportunities fund in international arbitration proceedings under the rules of the London Court of International Arbitration to enforce repayment of participations taken in a nine-figure GBP syndicated loan facility against Cypriot and Ukrainian Obligors.
- Represented a multinational private equity fund manager and associated investment fund vehicles in separate English Commercial Court claims to recover eight-figure GBP close-out amounts payable by distressed credit obligors under a series of ISDA Master Agreements and their underlying debt facilities.
Regulatory Enforcement Action Experience
We have extensive regulatory experience and have represented our investment funds clients before the SEC, FINRA, CFTC and NFA in investigations and enforcement actions, including allegations relating to fraud, accounting improprieties (including restatements), trading violations, insider trading and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. We also have experience in guiding clients in close coordination with local counsel on regulatory issues arising from investments in foreign jurisdictions. Many of these matters are nonpublic, and thus precludes the listing of particular clients. We have also represented clients in connection with SEC compliance exams.
Recent regulatory enforcement experience includes:
- Represented several hedge fund managers and private equity fund managers before the SEC on a variety of issues, including issues involving “consistent” returns, statements in disclosure documents, fee structures, trading practices and insider trading.
- Represented hedge fund managers before FINRA on issues relating to trading practices, advertising and marketing.
- Represented hedge fund managers, commodity pool operators and futures commission merchants before the CFTC, NFA and U.S. futures exchange on a variety of issues, including issues regarding commissions and trading.
- Represented an English-incorporated investment management company in relation to potential market abuse under section 118 of the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act and the Criminal Justice Act, including insider dealing, tipping off, manipulation of transactions, and misleading behavior and market distortion; and acted on behalf of the same client in relation to related information and documentation requests made of it by the UK Financial Conduct Authority pursuant to statutory investigative powers.