The Second Circuit decision exempts manipulation of US futures exchanges from the Commodities Exchange Act—the main body of law governing such exchanges—provided the conduct is carried out from overseas locations. It poses a fundamental threat to the integrity of those markets, with far-reaching adverse economic consequences for American businesses and consumers.
Andrew M. McNeela
Partner
- New York
-
250 Park Avenue
Suite 820
New York, NY 10177 - 212.699.1143
Biography
Biography
Andrew M. McNeela is a partner in our New York office focusing on securities, antitrust, commodities, and structured finance litigation.
Mr. McNeela joined the firm in 2008.
Prior to joining KM, Mr. McNeela served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. In this capacity, he represented the United States in a wide array of civil litigation. Mr. McNeela has argued over twenty cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Prior to joining KM, Mr. McNeela served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. In this capacity, he represented the United States in a wide array of civil litigation. Mr. McNeela has argued over twenty cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- Washington University (B.A. 1995)
- Hofstra University School of Law, member of the Law Review (J.D. cum laude, 1998)
- New York State Bar
- United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
- United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Law360 Rising Stars - 40 Under 40, 2013
Experience
Some of Mr. McNeela’s experience includes:
- Representation of exchange-based investors in Shak v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., alleging monopolization and manipulation of the silver futures market in violation of federal antitrust and commodity exchange laws. The parties successfully reached a private settlement. The case preceded a related Department of Justice criminal investigation into J.P. Morgan that remains ongoing.
- Lead counsel in a seven-day bench trial in the S.D.N.Y., representing mutual fund investors who alleged that their advisor, Calamos Advisors LLC, charged excessive fees (decision under submission). At the conclusion of trial, the judge praised counsel for “an extraordinarily well-tried case.”
- Representation of a Japanese bank that asserted fraud in connection with its purchase of synthetic CDOs from several prominent New York City-based financial institutions, which resulted in favorable confidential settlements.
- Representation of the New York City Pension Funds as lead plaintiff in a class action against Wachovia Corporation arising from Wachovia’s alleged misrepresentations of their exposure to the subprime market. This case resulted in a settlement of $75 million.
- Representation of the NY State Common Retirement Fund as lead plaintiff in In re National City Corporation Securities, Derivative & ERISA Litigation, a securities class action arising from National City’s alleged misrepresentations regarding exposure to subprime mortgage related losses. This case resulted in a settlement of $168 million.
- Lead counsel in Dandong v. Pinnacle Performance Limited, a class action lawsuit against Morgan Stanley pertaining to $154.7 million of notes issued by Pinnacle Performance Ltd. Plaintiffs allege that Morgan Stanley engineered the Pinnacle notes, which it marketed as a safe investment, to fail, investing money into collateralized debt obligations linked to risky companies, while actively shorting the same assets and betting against their clients. This case settled for $20 million.
- Representation of the exchange-based class in In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, an antitrust case alleging that defendant banks colluded to misreport and manipulate LIBOR. The case resulted in settlements totaling $190.45 million, which combined represent the largest recovery in a “futures-only” commodities class action litigation.
- Lead counsel on behalf of a proposed class of Brent crude oil futures traders alleging benchmark manipulation in In re North Sea Brent Crude Oil Futures Litigation.
- Lead counsel in the securities class action In re Herley Industries Inc. Securities Litigation on behalf of investors. This litigation resulted in a recovery of $10 million for the class.
- Co-lead counsel for a class of investors in Goldman Sachs common stock in a securities class action, Lapin v. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., pertaining to Goldman’s alleged instruction to their research analysts to favor procurement of investment banking deals over accuracy in their research. This litigation resulted in a recovery of $29 million for the class.
Cases & Investigations
- Case / Company Name
- Type
- Status
- Name Local 295 IBT Employer Group Welfare Fund v. Compass Minerals Int'l, Inc., 2:22-cv-02432 (D. Kan.)
- Type Securities
- Status Settled
-
KM is lead counsel in Local 295 IBT Employer Group Welfare Fund v. Compass Minerals Int'l, Inc., a putative class action alleging that Compass Minerals and three of its former officers misled investors about the progress and cost savings associated with its implementation of a new salt mining initiative. The parties have reached a settlement of $48 million. The final approval hearing is scheduled for July 30, 2025.
-
Name
Fli-Lo Falcon Llc v. Amazon.Com Inc.,
No. 22-cv-441 (W.D. Wash.). - Type
- Status Pending
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We are currently serving as lead counsel to a class of small package delivery companies defrauded by Amazon under its Delivery Service Partners (DSP) Program. The case alleges that the DSP program represents an unlawful scheme to shield Amazon from its responsibilities to DSPs, their drivers, and the public; minimize the risk of unionization among drivers; foist costs that Amazon would otherwise bear as an employer of drivers onto DSPs despite the fact that the drivers are functionally Amazon employees; and limit Amazon’s delivery costs by imposing policies and rules intended to prevent DSPs from achieving performance-related payments.
-
Name
CFTC v. Shak,
No. 14-cv-01632 (D.D.C.). - Type Commodities
- Status Pending
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Representation of a defendant in a case brought by the CFTC under the Commodity Exchange Act’s newest provisions for violations of an administrative order in the gold futures market.
-
Name
Dandong v. Pinnacle Performance Ltd.,
No. 10-cv-08086 (S.D.N.Y.). - Type Securities, Structured Finance
- Status Settled
-
KM acted as lead counsel for a group of Singapore-based investors in a securities class action against Morgan Stanley pertaining to notes issued by Cayman Islands-registered Pinnacle Performance Ltd. Plaintiffs alleged that Morgan Stanley routed Pinnacle investors’ principal into synthetic collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”) which were built to fail and then bet against. As the CDOs failed by design, plaintiffs’ principal was swapped to Morgan Stanley, enriching Morgan Stanley while rendering the Pinnacle Notes an all-but-total loss. This case resulted in a settlement of $20 million for the class following the court’s order certifying common law fraud claims.
-
Name
In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation,
No. 11-md-02262 (S.D.N.Y.). - Type Antitrust, Commodities
- Status Settled
-
KM acted as court-appointed co-liaison counsel for all class actions in the multi-district litigation and co-lead counsel for exchange-based class in the high-profile In re Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation and FTC Capital GMBH et al. v. Credit Suisse Group AG et al. alleging the fixing of prices of a benchmark interest rate. The case resulted in settlements totaling $190.45 million, which combined represent the largest recovery in a “futures-only” commodities class action litigation.
-
Name
In re National City Corp. Securities, Derivative & ERISA Litigation,
No. 08-cv-70004 (N.D. Ohio). - Type Securities, Structured Finance
- Status Settled
-
Lead counsel for lead plaintiff New York State Common Retirement Fund in a securities fraud class action against National City Corporation relating to the bank’s exposure to subprime assets. This case resulted in a settlement of $168 million for the class.
-
Name
In re Wachovia Equity Securities Litigation,
No. 08-cv-06171 (S.D.N.Y.). - Type Securities, Structured Finance
- Status Settled
-
Lead counsel for lead plaintiff New York City Pension Funds in a class action against Wachovia Corporation arising from the bank’s alleged misrepresentations of their exposure to the subprime market. This case resulted in a settlement of $75 million for the class.
-
Name
Lapin v. Goldman Sachs & Co.,
No. 04-cv-02236 (S.D.N.Y.). - Type Securities
- Status Settled
-
Lapin v. Goldman Sachs & Co., No. 04-cv-02236 (S.D.N.Y. 2010). Co-lead counsel. $29 million settlement.
-
Name
In re Herley Industries, Inc. Securities Litigation,
No. 06-cv-02596 (E.D. Pa.). - Type Securities
- Status Settled
-
In re Herley Industries, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 06-cv-02596 (E.D. Pa. 2010). Lead counsel. $10 million settlement.
News
Law360 has published an article discussing a major positive decision for plaintiffs in In re: Credit Default Swaps Auctions Litigation, 1:21-cv-00606 (D.N.M.), a class action alleging major banks took part in a more than decade-long, multibillion-dollar scheme to manipulate the benchmark prices used to value credit default swap contracts at settlement.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC has reached a settlement with a putative class of investors suing over $139 million in allegedly defective mortgage-backed securities, it told a New York federal judge, and expects to hand in the deal on Friday.
Standout Kirby McInerney LLP partner Andrew McNeela has helped secure more than $830 million in settlements in securities fraud class actions in the last 18 months alone, landing him a spot among Law360’s five class action rising stars under 40.
You have to give the lawyers at Kirby McInerney a lot of credit. In a case called Dandong v. Pinnacle Performance, they represent a group of Singapore investors who bought complex notes issued by a Cayman Islands-based Morgan Stanley vehicle that sold the Singapore-registered securities only in Singapore, under a contract that called for disputes to be litigated in Singapore.
Discovery proceedings have finally started more than a year after a group of Singapore investors sued Morgan Stanley for allegedly selling rigged Pinnacle Notes as ‘safe, conservative’ investments.
A federal judge ordered Morgan Stanley to defend against a lawsuit by Singapore investors that accused it of selling them risky debt that was designed to fail.