Wolf Popper LLP
Court Substantially Sustains Complaint Over Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss in the Fairfield
On August 18, 2010, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero issued an opinion sustaining most of the claims asserted by plaintiffs in their Second Amended Complaint, and significantly denying defendants’ motions to dismiss. The Court sustained most of plaintiffs’ claims against the Fairfield Greenwich Group (FGG), the FGG corporate and partnership entities, the individual executives and partners of FGG, the Citco entities, and the Canadian and Dutch offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The sustained claims include counts for securities fraud, common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligence, third party beneficiary breach of contract, unjust enrichment, aiding and abetting fraud and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty. Judge Marrero, on July 29, 2010, had issued an earlier opinion rejecting defendants’ arguments that the New York State Martin Act preempted plaintiffs’ common law claims. The case will now proceed to discovery.
Wolf Popper LLP Appointed Co-Lead Counsel In Actions To Recover Losses From Madoff Scandal Suffered By Investors in Fairfield Sentry and Greenwich Sentry
Wolf Popper LLP was appointed as interim co-lead counsel in a consolidated class action brought on behalf of investors in the Fairfield Sentry and Greenwich Sentry funds that were managed by Bernard L. Madoff. The January 30, 2009 order, by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, was entered in the consolidated action captioned as Anwar et al. v. Fairfield Greenwich Limited, et al., (09-CV-0118 (VM)), pending in the Southern District of New York. The consolidated member actions each allege various claims against defendants related to losses incurred by Fairfield Sentry and Greenwich Sentry investors as a result of the admitted “Ponzi scheme” orchestrated by Bernard L. Madoff.
Plaintiffs filed a Second Consolidated Amended Complaint in October 2009. Defendants have moved to dismiss that complaint and those motions are fully briefed and have yet to be fully resolved by the Court.
Wolf Popper LLP Files Claims On Behalf of Fairfield
On January 8, 2009, Wolf Popper LLP filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of investors in the Fairfield Sentry Limited fund (“Fairfield Sentry”). The complaint alleges various claims against defendants related to losses incurred by Fairfield Sentry investors as a result of the admitted “Ponzi scheme” orchestrated by Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”). Substantially all of Fairfield Sentry’s assets were entrusted to Madoff. The complaint was filed against Fairfield Greenwich Group, Fairfield Greenwich Limited, Fairfield Greenwich (Bermuda) Limited, Fairfield Greenwich Advisors LLC, and 22 of the partners and board members, including Walter Noel, Jeffrey Tucker and Andres Piedrahita, for breaches of fiduciary duty, gross negligence, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and mutual mistake. The action has been consolidated and assigned to Judge Victor Marrero. The Complaint alleges that defendants owed investors a fiduciary duty to protect and manage the assets entrusted to them with care, diligence and the highest degree of good faith, and that they breached this duty. The Complaint further alleges that defendants were obligated by contractual terms in the August 14, 2006 Private Placement Memorandum to perform due diligence on potential fund managers and perform ongoing monitoring of existing relationships with fund managers. The complaint alleges that defendants also breached those obligations. As a direct result of defendants’ alleged unlawful conduct, investors suffered avoidable losses and defendants were unjustly enriched.
It is estimated that Fairfield Sentry Limited had approximately $7.3 billion of investment exposure and that approximately $1.0 billion was paid in management, performance and placement fees to the Fairfield Greenwich Group and its affiliates. The complaint alleges that the defendants did not perform the necessary due diligence before placing funds that had been entrusted to their care under Bernard L. Madoff’s “management.” The complaint further alleges that because defendants did not perform this due diligence they breached their fiduciary duties and the contract created by the Private Placement Memorandum, and were unjustly enriched.
Wolf Popper LLP has extensive experience representing shareholders in class actions, and has successfully recovered billions of dollars in securities actions. If you currently hold shares of Fairfield Sentry Limited and you are interested in recovering losses or if you have information which might assist us in the investigation of these allegations, you may contact attorneys Chet Waldman, Robert Finkel, James Harrod, or Elizabeth Ferguson toll free at 877/370-7703, or via email at irrep@wolfpopper.com.
CONTACT: Wolf Popper LLP • James Harrod •
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Email: irrep@wolfpopper.com • website: www.wolfpopper.com
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Case Documents
Read the Complaint (PDF)