Kirby McInerney Settles Moody’s Captive Fraud Case

Moody’s has reached a settlement with New York-based law firm Kirby McInerney after it was accused of underpaying New York State and New York City business taxes between 2002 and 2014. Moody’s is alleged to have mischaracterised its income as premiums to its captive, Moody’s Assurance Company (MAC).

Tips for Japanese Companies When Responding to Discovery

Christopher Studebaker, Partner, and Yasuo Inada, Foreign Attorney, co-authored this article that provides a brief overview of discovery under federal law and outlines steps that the legal/IT departments in Japanese companies should undertake to ensure compliance with federal discovery obligations both beofre and during litigation.  The article is published (in Japanese) in a Japanese newspaper.

Recent Trends in U.S. Securities Litigation– ADR Litigation Risk
Part II: ADR Cases Involving Japanese Companies

Christopher Studebaker, Partner, and Sawa Nagano, Of Counsel, co-authored this article discussing recent trends in ADR issuances and post-Morrison cases involving ADRs.  The article is published (in Japanese) in a leading Japanese legal news service.

Recent Trends in U.S. Securities Litigation– ADR Litigation Risk
Part I: Overview of ADRs and Risks Related to Japanese Companies

Christopher Studebaker, Partner, and Sawa Nagano, Of Counsel, co-authored this article discussing recent trends in ADR issuances and post-Morrison cases involving ADRs.  The article is published (in Japanese) in a leading Japanese legal news service.

Firms Want $2M In Fees For Quantum Accounting Settlement

Kirby McInerney and Glancy Prongay & Murray asked a California federal court Thursday for roughly $2 million in fees for their efforts securing a tentative $8 million from data storage company Quantum Corp. to resolve a shareholder lawsuit over its accounting practices.

Treasure hunter helps companies, residents recover ‘lost’ money

Kirby McInerney Achieves 3rd Circuit Victory Reviving State-Law Fraud Claims in Merck Opt-Outs

The Third Circuit on Thursday revived fraud claims brought under state law by investors that opted out of class actions involving Merck & Co. Inc.’s statements about cholesterol drugs. 

JPMorgan Must Defend Claim It Saved Millions on Abandoned Assets

JPMorgan Chase & Co. could be on the hook for millions in unpaid interest and penalties for delaying transfers of unclaimed property to the state of New York following a first-of-a-kind state court ruling.

Cattle Price-Fixing Cases Consolidated in Minnesota

A Minnesota federal court ruled Wednesday that some of the country’s largest meatpacking companies, including Tyson and Cargill, will now face consolidated allegations of colluding to drive down prices of cattle used for beef production.

Philly And Citibank Resolve Libor-Rigging Claims in MDL

Up next on Judge Buchwald’s docket is the distribution agreement of $182 million worth of deals the exchange-based plaintiffs struck with Bank of America, Barclays, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and JP Morgan.

Schwab, Investors Ask 2nd Circ. To Revive Libor Claims

Citi, JPM Get Nod For $182.5M Euribor Settlement Payout

A Manhattan federal judge on Friday approved a $182.5 million settlement between JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and investors who accuse the two megabanks of rigging a key euro rate, signing off also on a roughly $36 million haul for plaintiffs’ firms that brought the antitrust class action.

Class-action lawsuit seeks damages for county ‘discriminatory conduct’ in tax assesment

Sprint To Pay NY $330M In Tax FCA Case, $63M For Tipster

Mobile giant Sprint Corp. will pay $330 million to resolve a New York False Claims Act suit that accused the company of shirking $100 million in state taxes, with almost $63 million of that sum going to a whistleblower, the state attorney general said Friday.

J.P. Morgan Chase precious metals markets rigging lawsuit paused

JPMorgan Pushes Back On Depo Bid In Silver Trading Suit

How Ex-JP Morgan Silver Traders Guilty Plea Could Boost Manipulation Suit

Spa Castle to fork over $2.5 million: AG

3rd Circuit rules banks can’t push clients out of FINRA arbitration, breaks with 2nd, 9th

JP Morgan Can’t Duck FINRA Arbitration, 3rd Circuit Says

 A Third Circuit panel ruled Tuesday that J.P. Morgan Securities must arbitrate a Pennsylvania health system’s claims over several pre-2008 auction rate securities offerings, finding the system hadn’t waived its right to arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority by signing on to agreements with clauses pegging New York’s Southern District as the forum for any disputes.

The Erosion of American Pipe Tolling

Tax Qui Tams Reach Maturity

Thanks to 2010 amendments to New York’s False Claims Act, whistleblowers can receive incentive awards of 15 to 30 percent of the government's recovery for bringing actions — called “qui tam” actions — on behalf of the government to help recover tax monies lost by fraud.

Cigarette Kickbacks are Burning Small Distributors

The suit was filed last week in Brooklyn state court by several small New York distributors of cigarettes and other candy store items — Amsterdam Tobacco, Donohue Candy, Kingston Candy, Mountain Candy and Sunrise Candy — claiming that bigger out-of-state distributors for years have been allegedly giving kickbacks to stores that buy cigarettes from them.

Small cigarette wholesales accuse large companies of violating state tax laws

A lawsuit filed this week accuses five of the state’s largest tobacco wholesalers of giving secret rebates to customers to drive down competition as part of an alleged scheme which may have violated state laws that set minimum prices on cigarettes.

FCA Memo No Proof Of New DOJ Direction On Dismissals

A recently leaked memo setting out circumstances for when U.S. Department of Justice attorneys should use its rarely invoked authority to ask for “meritless” qui tam False Claims Act cases to be dismissed could foreshadow a more aggressive DOJ approach to dismissals, but proof will only come from seeing its future actions, attorneys said.

U.S. Company Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit, Pays for Importer’s Customs Fraud

Tax Nonfilers Face Potential Liability Under New York FCA

By Randall Fox and Adam Pollock

A recent, little-noticed decision in the New York Supreme Court has confirmed that the tax provisions of New York’s False Claims Act apply not only to persons and companies that cheat on the tax returns they submit, but also to those who knowingly skirt their obligations by entirely failing to file any New York Tax returns.

FCA Cases Protect Claims by Relying on NY’s Favorable Pleading Standard

Fraud-related claims usually must be pled with particularity. But in a little-noticed provision at the end of New York’s False Claims Act, Sec.192(1-a), the New York legislature provided for a lower pleading hurdle when asserting violations of New York’s FCA in state court.

Trade Enforcement under Trump Likely to Involve Expanded Use of U.S. Whistleblower Statute

KM Partner Mark Strauss published an article in Supply and Demand Chain Executive regarding the use of U.S. Whistleblower laws under the Current administration.

Expect Increased Use of Whistleblower Law Under Trump

KM Partner Mark Strauss authored the attached editorial for Global Trade Magazine regarding whistleblower law under the current administration.

What If The Government Says A False Claim Isn’t False?

The anti-fraud bar is focused on the upcoming oral argument in the appeal of the trial verdict in United States et rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries Inc., calendared for Dece. 7, 2016, before the Fifth Circuit. The $663 million verdict — the largest in the history of the federal False Claims Act — raises questions going to the heart of the FCA's qui tam (whistleblower) provisions.

6 Years of Tax Qui Tams in New York

In this viewpoint, Fox looks back at six years of New York tax enforcement through qui tam lawsuits. He concludes that the abuses predicted by opponents of the law have failed to materialize and that the statute, which allows tax recovery suits by private citizens, appears to have generated a good return on the investment. The full article is reproduced with permission of TaxAnalysts and is accessible on KM’s website.

Qui Tam Plaintiffs’ Bar Expects Increase in New York Whistle-Blower Cases

Bloomberg BNA quoted KM partner Randall M. Fox, former New York Attorney General Bureau Chief, in an article addressing a high profile whistle-blower tax case against Sprint Nextel Corp. for the company’s alleged failure to collect and pay sales taxes on flat-rate calling plans, and why the plaintiffs’ bar expects more of these types of cases to be filed.

Tax Fraud and the FCA: 4 Takeaways From NY’s Sprint Ruling

Presenting a False Claims Act Case: Back to Basics

False Claims Act cases focus on situations where the government has been victimized by fraud. A whistleblower who invokes the act first presents the case to government enforcement authorities who decide either to intervene and take up the case, or decline and allow the whistleblower to proceed on the government’s behalf.

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 mortgagebacked securities, it told a New York federal judge, and expects to hand in the deal on Friday.

Haunted by Inflation, He Snapped Up Silver at $2, Made a Fortune and Lost It

Market fixing inquiry gathers pace

Representative comments by David Kovel.

Qui Tam Troubles, Part IV: Does New York Have the Answer?

This is the final article in a series on qui tam suits. This article discusses New York’s approach to tax fraud suits, which is being heralded as a possible model for both state and federal regimes.

The Case for Qui Tam Tax Claims: Former New York Attorney General Bureau Chief Randall Fox Tells Why States Should Lift Their Bar

On June 6, 2014, Bloomberg BNA published its interview with partner Randall M. Fox, former New York Attorney General Bureau Chief, on why states should lift their bar on qui tam tax claims.

Hess, Mercuria Units Added to Brent Crude Price-Fixing Lawsuit

Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. and Hess Corp. (HES:US)’s oil trading businesses were added to a lawsuit claiming they conspired with companies including BP Plc (BP), Statoil ASA (STL) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to manipulate Brent crude oil prices.

Kirby McInerney Adds N.Y.’s Ex-Top Whistleblower Lawyer

On April 8, 2014, Bloomberg reported the addition of new partner Randall Fox to Kirby McInerney. Mr. Fox was previously the founding head of the Taxpayer Protection Bureau in New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office.

Kirby McInerney Partner, David E. Kovel, Quoted in Financial Times Article on Forex Class Action Lawsuit

On April 6, 2014, The Financial Times quoted partner David E. Kovel on the global foreign exchange rate (“forex”) class action lawsuit. The amended complaint, filed on March 31, 2014, alleges that twelve banks acted as co-conspirators in manipulation of global forex prices.

Brent Crude Traders Claim Proof BFOE Boys Rigged Market

Four longtime traders in the global oil market claim in a lawsuit that the prices for buying and selling crude are fixed — and that they can prove it.

S’pore Pinnacle Notes investors join class action

Thousands of Pinnacle Notes retail investors in Singapore are now part of a US$154.7 million class-action suit brought against Morgan Stanley in New York after the US federal court last week gave the green light.

Kirby McInerney Profiled in Law360’s Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms List

Powered by a hard-hitting securities practice that took in nearly a billion dollars for its clients last year, Kirby McInerney LLP has recently racked up an impressive series of wins, including the landmark $590 million settlement of a securities class action targeting Citigroup Inc., earning it a spot on Law360’s Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms list.

Force-Placed Suit Against GMAC May Proceed, Judge Rules

A lawsuit that accused GMAC Mortgage of taking kickbacks and overcharging homeowners on force-placed insurance policies has survived a motion to dismiss. GMAC’s mortgage unit will have to face a class action brought by homeowners whose properties it serviced, a U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of New York ruled Monday.

GMAC Force-Placed Insurance Class Action Gets Judge’s OK

A New York federal judge on Monday upheld a racketeering class action targeting kickbacks Balboa Insurance Co. allegedly paid to GMAC Mortgage LLC for force-placing hazard insurance policies, saying the lender may have gouged borrowers when demanding reimbursement for coverage.

Kirby McInerney’s Andrew McNeela Named Law360 Rising Star

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.

Shifting Blame Muddles S&P Suit

Like many other collateralized debt obligations, Delphinus CDO 2007-1 got a triple-A rating and then defaulted within months, causing painful losses to investors. Who is responsible for the mess?