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Former HealthSouth CFO Headed To Prison
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to take up the case, the former finance chief of HealthSouth Corp. has been ordered to report to federal prison for three months for allegedly helping to carry out a massive accounting fraud scheme that nearly torpedoed the company.
Class Leads Picked For BofA-Merrill Buyout Battle
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
A federal judge has divided 30 pending cases accusing Bank of America Corp. of misleading investors into signing off on its $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. into three major groups — securities, derivatives and 401(k) plan claimants — and picked interim leads for the putative classes.
Nadel Investors Defend Suit Against Holland & Knight
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Investors suing Holland & Knight LLP for allegedly preparing private placement memoranda used by Florida fund manager Arthur Nadel to operate a $400 million Ponzi scheme are defending their case against a motion to dismiss, while the firm has asked to stay discovery until that motion is resolved.
Q&A With Morgan Lewis' James Pagliaro
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
The next wave of products cases is likely to result from the erosion of the workers' compensation bar, with employees more frequently bringing tort suits against employers and courts allowing those suits, says James D. Pagliaro, recent leader of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP’s global litigation practice.
Class Certified In 401(k) Fee Case Against Edison
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
A federal judge has certified a class of employees at Edison International who allege that the electric power company offered 401(k) plans that charged excessive fees and engaged in illegal self-dealing.
Husch Blackwell Adds Securities, M&A Partner
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Robert Attai, formerly a partner at Otten Johnson Robinson Neff & Ragonetti PC, has joined the Denver office of Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP as a partner in the securities and mergers and acquisitions department.
UK Fund Group Wants Tighter Post-Madoff Rules
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Europe's most powerful hedge fund industry group on Wednesday proposed new standards intended to establish more independent oversight and increased disclosure standards on its membership after the unraveling of Bernard L. Madoff's decades-long fraud.
Ex-Qwest Accountant Fights SEC's Fraud Claims
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A former Qwest Communications International Inc. accountant has urged a court to toss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud case against him, arguing he was a junior executive with no power.
Hagens Berman Takes 2 Ex-Attys To Court
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP has sued two former “of counsel” attorneys, a husband and wife whom the firm hired to expand its international securities litigation practice, for allegedly violating a $360,000 employment contract and refusing to divulge the identities of potential clients.
Ex-Beazer Accounting Officer Hit With SEC Fraud Suit
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the former chief accounting officer of Beazer Homes USA Inc., alleging that the executive was a central figure in a scheme to misstate the homebuilder's net income by more than $60 million.
Stanford Financial Ex-CFO To Cop To Charges: Atty
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Stanford Financial Group's former Chief Financial Officer James M. Davis will plead guilty to three criminal charges, including mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, his attorney told Law360 on Wednesday.
Gibson Dunn Adds 4th Clifford Chance Partner
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Securities litigator George Schieren has become the latest partner to join Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP from Clifford Chance LLP, following on the heels of the Magic Circle firm's former global litigation chair Mark Kirsch.
Fund Adviser, Cuomo Settle Pension Probe For $2M
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Pension fund adviser Pacific Corporate Group Holdings LLC will adopt New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s Public Pension Fund Code of Conduct, and an affiliate will return over $2 million to a state retirement fund, in a deal that ends the affiliate's involvement in Cuomo's pay-to-play corruption probe.
Trial Ordered Over JPMorgan Role In Enron Dispute
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A bankruptcy judge has called for a trial to determine the exact role J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. played in a complex web of big-dollar commercial paper transactions between Enron Corp. and other entities in the months leading up to the energy giant's dramatic 2001 collapse.
Adelphia Trust Must Produce Deloitte Suit Testimony
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A federal judge has ordered creditors of collapsed telecommunications giant Adelphia Communications Corp. to turn over expert reports from an old malpractice case against Deloitte & Touche to a group of banks, including Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America Corp., which the creditors are suing for fraud.
SEC Signs Off On NYSE Broker Vote Ban
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is backing three measures aimed at strengthening corporate governance, including a controversial proposal by the New York Stock Exchange to bar brokers from voting proxies in corporate elections without instructions from their clients.
SEC Suit Over $44M Scheme Still In Play
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A federal court has refused to dismiss a German national and his financial consulting firm from a suit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging the firm profited to the tune of more than $2.2 million from a massive international boiler room scheme involving fraudulent securities offerings.
Shareholders Seek To Reclaim Cityhub Search Patent
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Shareholders of defunct local search service provider Cityhub.com Inc. are accusing the company's former director of breaching his fiduciary duty by dissolving the company and assigning a valuable company-owned patent to another company he controlled without the shareholders' consent, and then infringing the patent by using it to obtain settlements with Verizon Communications Inc. and Idearc Information Services inc.
Britain Seizes $100M In Stanford-Related Funds
Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009
At the behest of the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.K. has frozen $100 million connected to a $7 billion fraud scheme purportedly engineered by billionaire financier Robert Allen Stanford.
New Lead Plaintiff Appointed In Imax Securities Case
Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009
A federal judge has replaced the lead plaintiff in securities litigation against Imax Corp., concluding that another shareholder group is more suitable for the role because it suffered a direct loss from the movie pioneer's alleged fraud.
Advising Directors And Officers Of Distressed Cos.
The securities fraud case of former Kmart Corp. CEO Charles Conaway is a timely reminder that directors and officers of distressed companies face heightened risks of personal legal liability. An informed and proactive approach by a lawyer advising in such a situation can help management reduce the risk, says David M. Furbush of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
The Noncontrolling Investment And How To Protect It
In the past, private equity funds and strategic investors have generally avoided taking a minority position in a company for myriad reasons, most importantly of which was the limited control the investor would have over ongoing operations of the target. Now, with the shrinking leveraged buyout market, minority investments, if done correctly, can be a lucrative investment, say Gregg A. Eisenberg and Christopher P. Reuscher of Benesch.
Demand Futility In A Down Economy
In the wake of the subprime mortgage and credit crisis, allegations of poor management — specifically those suggesting lack of independence or alleging disinterest or simple personal liability — will not suffice to exclude board members from considering a presuit derivative demand, say Thad Davis and Nisha Ramachandran of Ropes & Gray LLP.
New York — The Creditor's Playground
The highest court in the state of New York has just issued a holding that may effectively make the courts in New York the collection agency against almost any debtor that does not have all its assets hidden under its mattress, says Jeffrey E. Glen of Anderson Kill & Olick PC.
A Look At Climate Change-Related Disclosures
There is a growing effort by investors and others to get companies to disclose "carbon footprint" information, but there are many potential liabilities — and directors and officers insurance coverage issues — to consider, say Mia Mazza of Morrison & Foerster LLP and Priya Cherian Huskins of Woodruff Sawyer & Co.
Making The Most Of Rule Of Evidence 502
It is foreseeable that, if used strategically, the new Federal Rule of Evidence 502 should alleviate the burdens of costly electronic discovery and post-production privilege review and should ultimately reduce the billions of dollars spent each year in litigation to protect against the inadvertent disclosure of privileged materials, says Otilia Gabor of Miles & Stockbridge PC.
A New Approach For The SEC
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is hard at work remaking and re-energizing both its image and its law enforcement role after scandals such as Enron and Madoff over the past decade. While the agency has the expertise and the resources to regain its footing, it needs to start thinking outside the box, says Daniel J. Hurson of The Hurson Law Firm LLP.
Insight Into Assigning Arbitrability
The case of Monex Deposit Co. v. Gilliam begins to fill in a gap that California decisions have acknowledged in the debate over whether the court or the arbitrator should decide if an arbitration agreement is valid and enforceable, say Neil A. Goteiner, Frank J. Riebli and Scott Andrews of Farella Braun & Martel LLP.