PRACTICE AREAS

Securities and Financial Services

Hausfeld LLP is at the forefront of litigating some of the most high-profile actions relating to securities and other investment products or services to emerge in recent years. With the financial markets becoming ever more harmonized and complex our unique business model allows us to better respond to the emerging needs of investor clients. To that end, we have assembled a multidisciplinary team of lawyers with decades of experience in securities, commodities, antitrust and consumer protection litigation, both in the United States and in Europe, capable of protecting the rights of investors on any front and across multiple jurisdictions. We also provide portfolio monitoring services with cutting-edge monitoring software and in-house financial analysis, accounting and investigation expertise, which permit us to monitor our clients’ investments both efficiently and with minimal disruption to our clients’ business.

Cases and Current Investigations

Antitrust

• LIBOR 
  • We represent the Mayor and City Counsel of Baltimore and a proposed class in an action against member banks of the British Bankers’ Association for the unlawful suppression of the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). LIBOR is the most popular reference rate for financial products, being referenced in over $300 trillion of instruments worldwide. Investors in LIBOR-based interest rate swaps or holders of corporate debt tied to LIBOR suffered significant damage as a result of the banks’ unlawful suppression of the LIBOR rate. (Click here to view the Complaint and recent Order Appointing Lead Counsel.)
• Municipal Derivatives
  • We represent a proposed class of municipalities and other government entities against thirty seven leading banks, insurance companies, and brokers alleging widespread price-fixing and bid-rigging in the multi-billion dollar municipal derivatives industry dating back to 1992. These derivative products are widely recognized for greatly increasing the indebtedness of municipalities and other government entities in the lead-up to the credit crisis.  Read more...

Commodities Manipulation

• Crude Oil Futures and Options
  • We represent a precious minerals hedge fund group in an action against commodities traders for the manipulation of crude oil futures, unlawful activity which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has declared netted the defendants $50 million in illegal profits.
• Rough Rice Futures and Options
  • We represent a major agricultural conglomerate and a proposed class in a commodities manipulation action against commodities traders who are alleged to have repeatedly injected unlawful trades and positions into the supply-demand equation for prices of rough rice futures and option contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”).
• Silver Futures and Options
  • We represent a precious minerals hedge fund and a proposed classo f commodites investors in an action relating to a consipiracy by JP Morgan Chase and other major investment banks to manipulate the price of silver futures and options contracts traded on the COMEX.

Consumer Financial Protection

• Custodian Bank Foreign Exchange Programs
  • We represent a pension fund and a proposed class of holders of custodian accounts with the Bank of New York Mellon seeking damages as a result of the bank’s practices with regard to foreign exchange transactions made pursuant to standing instructions. According to whistleblower accounts the bank hid from its customers that when it processed foreign exchange transactions pursuant to standing instructions it would always assign the customer the least favorable rate each day, irrespective of the rate at the time the transaction was actually made.
• Loan Modification Credit Reporting
  • We represent a mortgage holder and a proposed class against Bank of America for misreporting mortgage payments as late when clients attempted to enter into loan modification programs. Read more...

Securities Fraud

• Siemens/Hear USA
  • We represent investors in HearUSA common stock against Siemens and its subsidiaries who claim that Siemens made fraudulent statements in its 13D filings with respect to HearUSA's financial stability and Siemens' intentions with regard to ownership and control of the stock.  As a result of these statements, the price of Hear USA stock plummeted (falling from $0.90/share on January 18, 2011 to $0.35/share on July 28, 2011), resulting in massive losses for investors and enabling Siemens to take ownership of the company at a reduced cost.  For a copy of the complaint, please click here.
• Diamond Foods
  • We represent investors in Diamond Foods in a securities fraud action relating to that company’s proposed acquisition of Pringles. After the acquisition was postponed, a Diamon Foods press release stated that Diamond's Audit Committee Chairman received a communication from outside the Company questioning the timing of certain payments to walnut growers. The payments were allegedly timed to make 2011 fiscal year costs appear lower than they actually were. One source estimates that the payments were worth as much as $50 million and would have reduced Diamond's operating income by more than 50%, if they had been included in the fiscal year ended July 31, 2011. On the next trading day following the November 1, 2011 announcement, the Company's stock fell nearly 18% to close at $52.79, down $11.33 from the previous day's close of $64.12.

Our International Focus

We recognize that, in an increasingly globalized world, our clients’ financial interests are not restricted by national boundaries, even if their ability to protect those interests is. In June 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court, in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, 130 S.Ct. 2869 (2010), restricted U.S. securities actions to products traded on U.S. exchanges or otherwise in the U.S. Meanwhile, laws in European jurisdictions, particularly in the U.K., have been liberalized to become more friendly to shareholder actions. In this new environment our international presence makes us uniquely capable of offering protection of our clients’ rights, wherever infringed. In Europe, the firm acts for businesses and individuals, either by themselves or collectively, in financial services matters and we are currently developing a number of actions in response to the Morrison decision seeking recovery for investors no longer able to seek redress through the U.S. courts. Read More…

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