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EmailComplex Fraud and Securities Litigation
Several of Berger Singerman’s Dispute Resolution attorneys focus their practice primarily in the areas of complex fraud and securities litigation, and their collective experience includes several of the largest Ponzi schemes in the State of Florida.
When litigating a complex fraud action or securities litigation on behalf of a lender, investor or other defrauded party, the immediate objectives are usually to unravel the fraud, identify all the perpetrators, strategically prioritize the claims, and recover all or as much of the loss as possible. To achieve these goals, our attorneys have worked closely with receivers, bankruptcy trustees, forensic accountants, and other professionals on a case-by-case basis to maximize the client’s recovery and the value of the remaining assets or collateral. We regularly coordinate with our Business Reorganization and Government and Regulatory Law teams to bring added value to our clients in these matters.
As examples of complex fraud and securities litigation handled by our Dispute Resolution team attorneys:
- Served as counsel for a Florida affiliate of an international financial institution in asserting fraud claims against the perpetrators of a $170 million factoring fraud. After recovering judgments against the primary perpetrators, Berger Singerman litigated malpractice actions against the professionals involved. Berger Singerman was able to achieve an advantageous settlement against one set of professionals, and, along with our co-counsel, litigated an action against another set of professionals through jury trial which culminated in a jury verdict in excess of $500 million in favor of our client.
- Served as counsel to a Japanese entity that was in an SEC receivership pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The case involves one of the largest insurance viatical frauds in the United States. Our clients had invested $15 million shortly before the fraud was uncovered and the receivership instituted. We represented the client’s interest and successfully argued to the Court that our clients’ funds, then in the custody of the SEC receivership, were segregated and trust funds, not comingled with other corporate funds and belonged solely to his clients. As a result, the client recovered all of their $15 million investment.
- In two separate securities fraud lawsuits, Berger Singerman represented plaintiffs defrauded by the officers of public companies and, after substantial effort, were able to obtain recovery for our clients of nearly all remaining proceeds from the entities’ respective Officer and Director insurance policies. In both cases, numerous other lawsuits filed by various other aggrieved plaintiffs were unsuccessful. Through strategically navigating this prior precedent, Berger Singerman made appropriate modifications and strategic decisions that resulted in the insurance companies ultimately paying out the maximum amount of remaining policy benefits available.
- Berger Singerman represented more than a dozen individual officers and directors of a public company in a RICO and securities fraud action filed in the Southern District of Florida alleging more than $6 million in damages. The 300+ page complaint asserted 25 causes of action against 61 defendants, including federal and state RICO claims, securities fraud claims, and a variety of common law claims. We coordinated the defense of the action as between the dozens of defendants and the many different law firms involved in the action. Following a series of motions to dismiss, we obtained a dismissal with prejudice for all the defendants, which we defended and was upheld on appeal before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, we obtained an award of just under $250,000 in attorneys’ fees against the Plaintiffs for the frivolous filing of certain causes of action.
