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.

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.