Financial Services

Our approach

Volatile credit markets, evolving laws and new regulations bring many challenges to the financial services industry. By combining extensive industry experience with deep business acumen, our attorneys craft efficient solutions that work for a variety of entities.

Our team has broad capabilities across private equity, banking & finance, M&A, public finance, financial litigation, restructuring, tax and other practice areas, enabling us to provide clear and practical advice and strategic approaches when issues arise.

We work with

• Financial service institutions
• Banks
• Regulators
• Public and private companies
• Broker dealers
• Domestic and international banks
• Specialty finance companies
• Insurance companies
• Private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies
• Private investment funds
• Institutional investors
• Mezzanine lenders
• Hedge funds
• Strategic buyers
• Corporate borrowers and issuers of debt
• Family offices

Representative Experience

• Representing a British Virgin Island-based hedge fund, in a $50 million preference and clawback action brought by the Madoff trustee, in one of the first sales of Madoff-tied SIPA claims to a third party, and with litigation advice related to recovery of assets lost in Madoff-related funds.
• Representing a Cayman Island-based hedge fund of funds in valuation/liquidation disputes with various PIPE funds.
• Representing a major player in the residential mortgage-backed securities industry in actions brought by institutional investors who seek billions of dollars in rescission against issuers, sponsors and underwriters.
• Representing a real estate investment and advisory firm in numerous limited partnership disputes related to syndicated tax credit funds.
• Defending Cayman Island- and Delaware-based special purpose vehicles in putative securities class action alleging fraud under both New York law and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The claims arise out of losses that the lead plaintiff investment fund alleges were suffered in connection with two synthetic CDO transactions that offered investors exposure to the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities through certain credit default swap transactions.
• Represented an Asian private equity fund in connection with its investment in the U.S. involving an SEC investigation and U.S. litigation concerning mismanagement by former manager.
• Represented investor in American Arbitration Association arbitration and confirmation proceedings as well as in Connecticut state court litigation against a hedge fund, its investment manager and principal. The matter involved recovering damages arising from the defendants’ hedge fund opera­tion and management misconduct, in which our client invested approxi­mately $26 million. Obtained arbitration award of rescission damages based on defendants’ fraudulent conduct, which award was converted to a final court judgment of approximately $26.5 million. The Connecticut litigation resulted in a stipulated judgment for monetary damages for our client.
• Represented numerous European investors in a valuation dispute with an offshore affiliate of a U.S.-based hedge fund.
• Defended nine pairs of Cayman Island- and Delaware-based issuer/co-issuer defendants in a $100 million securities fraud case involving the sale of CDOs, resulting in a complete dismissal of the case.