First read their resumes to see if there is any chance that those MMs can get away with what they have done.
Michael B. Eisenkraft Michael B. Eisenkraft is a partner at Cohen Milstein where he serves in both the Antitrust and Securities practices. He also serves as the administrative partner of the firm's New York office, chairs the New Business Development Committee, and is a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Eisenkraft leads the firm's efforts in prosecuting innovative cases relating to the protection of global financial markets.
He currently represents putative classes of investors asserting antitrust or securities claims in the Stock Lending, Interest Rate Swaps, Treasuries, Bristol CVR, KOSPI 200, XIV ETN, and Overstock.com markets. He has also helped investors recover hundreds of millions of dollars in the firm’s mortgage-backed securities cases and represents businesses in commercial contingency litigation including cases asserting claims for breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation. Furthermore, Mr. Eisenkraft serves as co-chair of the Committee on Federal Courts for the New York County Lawyers’ Association and on the Judicial Screening Committee for the Westchester County Democratic Party. In 2020, he was appointed by Law360 to serve on its Securities Editorial Advisory Board.
For his work, Mr. Eisenkraft has been widely honored by the legal industry, including by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers In the United States, by Benchmark Litigation as a "Litigation Future Star" (2023) and "40 & Under Hot List" (2018 and 2019), by Legal 500 as a “Next Generation Partner” (since 2020), by New York Super Lawyers (Rising Star 2013-2019, Super Lawyer 2022) In 2018, Law360 named Mr. Eisenkraft a "Rising Star -- Securities," professionals under 40 whose work belies their age. In the area of Securities. He is rated "AV Preeminent" by Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Eisenkraft's notable successes at Cohen Milstein include: • NovaStar MBS Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): $165 million settlement on behalf of investors in a Securities Act litigation involving billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland, Wachovia and Deutsche Bank. • HEMT MBS Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): $110 million settlement on behalf of investors in mortgage-backed securities issued and underwritten by Credit Suisse after more than seven years of litigation, which included the first written decision certifying a Securities Act class of mortgage-backed securities in the country. • RALI MBS Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): $335 million in settlements on behalf of investors in mortgage-backed securities issued by Residential Capital and underwritten by various investment banks after seven years of litigation. • Harborview MBS Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): $275 million settlement on behalf of investors in mortgage-backed securities issued and underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiaries after more than six years of litigation. • Dynex Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): $7.5 million settlement on eve of trial on behalf of investors in asset-backed securities. The decision certifying the class in the case was the first decision within the Second Circuit certifying a class of asset-backed bond purchasers under the 1934 Act. • China MediaExpress Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): $12 million settlement with auditor defendant in case involving alleged fraud at Chinese reverse merger company China MediaExpress. One of the largest settlements with an auditor defendant in a case involving a Chinese reverse merger company. • LIBOR (Exchange Traded Class) (S.D.N.Y.): $187 million in settlements with defendants, the largest class action settlement of manipulation claims in the history of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.
Mr. Eisenkraft’s current cases include: • In Re: Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Court-appointed co-lead counsel in antitrust class action alleging that major investment banks conspired to prevent an all to all market for interest rate swaps from developing. • In Re: Treasuries Securities Auction Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Court-appointed co-lead counsel in antitrust and Commodity Exchange Act class action alleging manipulation of the multi-trillion dollar market for U.S. Treasuries and related instruments. • Stock Lending Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Leading antitrust class action alleging that major investment banks conspired to prevent the stock lending market from evolving by boycotting and interfering with various platforms and services designed to increase transparency and reduce costs in the stock lending market. • Chahal v. Credit Suisse Grp. AG, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Court-appointed co-lead counsel in securities class action alleging fraud and market manipulation of XIV exchange Traded Note market. • In re: Overstock Securities Litigation: (D. Utah): Court-appointed sole Lead Counsel in class action alleging materially false and misleading statements and omissions and engineering a market manipulation scheme during the Class Period of Overstock.com securities. • Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. v. Canaccord Genuity LLC, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Securities litigation against preeminent market makers for repeated market manipulation tactics involving spoofing of company stock.
Mr. Eisenkraft served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Barrington D. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles on legal issues in the securities and antitrust fields among other subjects. Mr. Eisenkraft attended Brown University, where he received a B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Laura H. Posner Laura H. Posner is a partner at Cohen Milstein and a member of the Securities Litigation & Investor Protection and Ethics & Fiduciary Counseling practices. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Posner was appointed by the New Jersey Attorney General to serve as the Bureau Chief for the New Jersey Bureau of Securities – the top Securities Regulator in New Jersey. In that capacity, Ms. Posner was responsible for administrating and enforcing the New Jersey Uniform Securities Law and regulations thereunder, as well as managing and overseeing the employees who staff the Bureau of Securities. Cases prosecuted under Ms. Posner’s direction as Bureau Chief resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for New Jersey residents, as well as more than 20 criminal convictions.
Ms. Posner is currently involved in the following notable matters: • In re Wells Fargo & Company Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is Co-Lead Counsel in this putative securities class action, alleging that Wells Fargo and certain executives misrepresented that the bank had improved its governance and oversight structures following a widespread consumer fraud banking scandal in direct violation of its 2018 consent orders with the CFPB, OCC, and the Federal Reserve. On May 16, 2023, the Court granted preliminary approval of a historic $1 billion settlement. • IBEW Local 98 Pension Fund v. Deloitte (D.S.C.): Cohen Milstein is sole Lead Counsel in this putative securities class action against Deloitte entities for allegedly breaching its external auditor duties related to as SCANA’s multi-billion-dollar nuclear energy expansion project in South Carolina. • Chahal v. Credit Suisse Grp. AG, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is Co-Lead Counsel in this putative securities class action alleging fraud and market manipulation of XIV Exchange Traded Note market. • In Re Overstock Securities Litigation (D. Utah): Cohen Milstein is sole Lead Counsel in this putative securities class action against Overstock.com Inc., its former CEO, CFO, and current Retail President for engineering a market manipulation “short squeeze” scheme in the company’s common stock and insider trading. • Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. v. Canaccord Genuity LLC, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is leading this securities litigation against market makers Canaccord Genuity LLC, Citadel Securities LLC, G1 Execution Services LLC, GTS Securities LLC, Instinet LLC, Lime Trading Corp., Susquehanna International Group LLP, and Virtu Americas LLC for repeated market manipulation tactics involving the spoofing of company stock.
Ms. Posner’s recent high-profile successes include: • Miller Energy/KPMG (E.D. Tenn.): Cohen Milstein, as Co-Lead Counsel in this certified securities class action, represented plaintiffs who alleged that KPMG failed to meet its obligation as the independent auditor of Miller Energy Resources, Inc., perpetrating a massive fraud by Miller Energy, including overstating the value of largely worthless oil reserves to more than $480 million, among other claims. In July 2022, the Court granted final approval of a $35 million settlement. • In re Pinterest Derivative Litigation (N.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein, as Interim Lead Counsel, represented the Employees Retirement System of Rhode Island and other Pinterest shareholders in a consolidated shareholder derivative complaint against certain current officers and directors of Pinterest, including its Board Chairman and CEO, for breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act, relating to their alleged personal engagement in and facilitation of a systematic practice of illegal discrimination of employees on the basis of race and sex. As a result of this illegal misconduct, the company’s financial position, goodwill, and reputation among users had been harmed. In June 2022, the Court granted final approval of a $50 million settlement. • L Brands, Inc. Derivative Litigation: Cohen Milstein, in partnership with the State of Oregon, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, and other shareholders, helped resolve allegations that officers and directors of L Brands, Inc., previous owners of Victoria’s Secret, breached their fiduciary duties by maintaining ties with alleged sex offender and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and fostering a culture of discrimination and misogyny at the company. Following a Delaware General Corporate Law Section 220 books and records demand and an extensive, proprietary investigation, L Brands and the now-standalone company, Victoria’s Secret, agreed to stop enforcing non-disclosure agreements that prohibit the discussion of a sexual harassment claim’s underlying facts; stop using forced arbitration agreements; implement sweeping reforms to their codes of conduct, policies and procedures related to sexual misconduct and retaliation; and to invest $45 million each, for a total of $90 million, in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and DEI Advisory Councils. • Wynn Resorts, Ltd. Derivative Litigation (Eighth Jud. Dist. Crt., Clark Cnty., Nev.): Cohen Milstein represented New York State Common Retirement Fund and the New York City Pension Funds as Lead Counsel in a derivative shareholder lawsuit against certain officers and directors of Wynn Resorts, Ltd., arising out of their failure to hold Mr. Wynn, the former CEO and Chairman of the Board, accountable for his longstanding pattern of sexual abuse and harassment of company employees. In March 2020, the Court granted final approval of a $90 million settlement in the form of cash payments and landmark corporate governance reforms, placing it among the largest, most comprehensive derivative settlements in history. • Tradex Global Master Fund SPC Ltd. et al. v. Lancelot Investment Management, LLC, et al. (Crc. Crt., Cook Cnty., Ill.): In August 2018, the Court granted final approval of a $27.5 million settlement, concluding a nearly decade-old putative investor class action against McGladrey & Pullen LLP, an accounting firm, for its alleged fraud and negligence arising out of the Tom Petters’ Ponzi scheme, one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. This case significant for not only the dollar value of the final settlement, but the rarity of such a case in which the auditor was allegedly complicit in its client’s fraud and the number of legal hurdles cleared.
Ms. Posner has recovered billions on behalf of defrauded investors. Her notable successes include 5 of the top 100 securities fraud class action settlements of all time, including: • In re Schering-Plough Corp./ENHANCE Securities Litigation (D.N.J.) and In re Merck & Co., Inc. Vytorin/Zetia Securities Litigation (D.N.J.): Obtained $688 million for investors on the eve of trial, the third largest recovery ever achieved in the Third Circuit and District of New Jersey, the second largest securities fraud settlement ever against a pharmaceutical company and among the top 25 securities fraud settlements of all time. • In re The Mills Corporation Securities Litigation (E.D. Va.): Obtained $202.75 million for investors, the largest recovery ever achieved in a securities class action in Virginia, and the second largest recovery ever in the Fourth Circuit. • In re WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Securities Litigation (M.D. Fla.): Obtained $200 million for investors, the largest recovery ever achieved in a securities class action in Florida, and the second largest recovery in the Eleventh Circuit.
Ms. Posner has also been involved in several landmark derivative cases, including the In re Walt Disney Co. Derivative Litigation, which redefined the fiduciary duties of corporate directors and officers. She has authored several successful amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court, most recently on behalf of the North American Securities Administrators Association in support of the SEC in Liu v. SEC and Lorenzo v. SEC and in support of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System in Goldman Sachs v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.
Ms. Posner currently serves as the incoming president of the Institute for Law and Economic Policy, a public policy research and educational foundation seeking to preserve, study and enhance investor and consumer access to the civil justice system. She is also a member of the Public Policy Council of the CFP Board. She is the immediate past-Chair of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s (NYC Bar) Securities Litigation Committee, and previously served as a member of the NYC Bar’s Securities Regulation and Consumer Affairs Committees. Ms. Posner also is the former Chairwoman of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) Enforcement Committee, and previously served on NASAA’s Multi-Jurisdictional Action Committee, Technology Committee and State Legislation Committee.
For her work, Ms. Posner has received numerous peer and industry recognitions, including The National Law Journal’s 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers “Elite Women of the Plaintiffs Bar Award” and Crain’s New York Business 2020 “Notable Woman in Law.” Annually, she is honored as a New York Super Lawyer, as a member of Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under Hot List” and "Future Stars List," and as one of Lawdragon’s Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers. In 2017, Ms. Posner received NASAA’s 2017 “Outstanding Service Award.”
Ms. Posner graduated with a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2001. She received her law degree at Harvard Law School in 2004, where she served on the Executive Editorial Committee for the Harvard Women's Law Journal.
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