Kirby McInerney LLP | Edward M. Varga III

Of Counsel

evarga@kmllp.com

New York
250 Park Avenue
Suite 820
New York, NY 10177
212.371.6600

Edward M. Varga III Of Counsel

evarga@kmllp.com

New York
250 Park Avenue
Suite 820
New York, NY 10177
212.371.6600

Biography

Edward M. Varga, III is Of Counsel to the firm and practices out of our New York office.

Mr. Varga joined the firm in 2006 and concentrates on securities and antitrust litigation.

Cornell University (B.S. 2000)
New York University Law School (J.D. 2006)

New York State Bar

Experience

Mr. Varga’s relevant experience includes:

Lead counsel in In re Citigroup Inc Securities Litigation, a class action arising out of Citigroup’s alleged misrepresentations regarding their exposure to losses associated with numerous collateralized debt obligations. This case settled for $590 million.
Representation, as counsel for lead plaintiff and other shareholders, in a derivative action brought against members of the Board of Directors and senior executives of Pfizer, Inc. Plaintiffs made a breach of fiduciary duty claim because defendants allegedly allowed unlawful promotion of drugs to continue even after receiving numerous “red flags” that the improper drug marketing was systemic. Pfizer agreed to pay a proposed settlement of $75 million and to make groundbreaking changes to the Board’s oversight of regulatory matters.
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 allege that Morgan Stanley routed Pinnacle investors’ principal into synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that it 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 settled for $20 million.
Representation of companies that offered IPO securities in antitrust litigation against the 27 largest investment banks in the United States. Plaintiffs allege that the banks conspired to price fix underwriting fees in the mid-sized IPO market.
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 settled for $168 million.

Cases & Investigations

Case / Company Name
Type
Status

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 Citigroup Inc Securities Litigation,
No. 07-cv-09901 (S.D.N.Y.).
Type Securities, Structured Finance
Status Settled
Lead counsel for individual investor lead plaintiffs in this securities fraud class action relating to Citigroup’s exposure to losses associated with its creation or sponsorship of numerous collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”). This case resulted in a settlement of $590 million for the class. The settlement was, at the time, the largest CDO-related settlement ever, as well as the largest settlement of a fraud-only action. A later filed SEC complaint concerning similar allegations settled for a small fraction of the class action settlement amount.

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 Pfizer Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation,
No. 09-cv-7822 (S.D.N.Y.).
Type Corporate Governance, Securities
Status Settled
KM represented Skandia Life Insurance as counsel in securities derivative litigation against Pfizer in connection with Pfizer’s off-label promotion of its Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox and Lyrica drugs, for which it paid record civil and criminal fines, including the largest criminal fine in U.S. history. The litigation resulted in a $75 million settlement and numerous, significant changes to Pfizer’s corporate governance structure and compliance processes. Some of the changes made included the implementation of a Committee of the Board of Directors to oversee regulatory and compliance issues, external complaints regarding Pfizer's compliance, and compliance programs in newly acquired companies, and the establishment of an ombudsman program through which employees can surface complaints.

News

11/12/2014 | Articles and TV Morgan Stanley, Investors Settle Dispute Over ‘Rigged’ Notes

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.