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The Manipulation Monitor: A Guide to Financial Market Manipulation Antitrust Litigation

Commentary on Antitrust and Other Competition Law Litigation Relating to the Financial Services Industry.
Posted: June 11, 2021

N.Y. Federal Judge Dismisses Treasury Auction Manipulation Case Against Big Banks

On March 31, 2021, District Judge Gardephe dismissed a multidistrict litigation against Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, RBS, and UBS, and three platform companies. The plaintiffs are 21 retirement and benefit funds, unions, banks, individuals and companies that claim the Wall Street giants violated federal anti-trust laws and state laws by conspiring...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: Treasury Securities Auction Antitrust Litigation
Posted: April 30, 2021

Second Circuit Grants Article III Standing On Appeal and Revives SIBOR Class Action

Second Circuit Grants Article III Standing On Appeal and Revives SIBOR Class Action In Fund Liquidation Holdings LLC v Bank of Am. Corp., the Second Circuit overturned the Southern District’s decision to dismiss two Cayman Islands investment funds’ claims against numerous international banking institutions for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. In doing so, the Second Circuit revived a class action against...

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Posted in Benchmark Rate Manipulation, Market Manipulation Lawsuits
Posted: April 16, 2021

ICE LIBOR Update: Second Circuit Grants Permission to Intervene

In City of Livonia Employees’ Retirement System, et al. v. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., et al., No. 20-1492, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted leave for DYJ Holdings, LLC (“DYJ”) to intervene in a pending appeal, and denied a motion to dismiss the appeal as moot, in the wake of the plaintiff-appellants’ announced intention to withdraw from the...

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Posted in In re: LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, Market Manipulation Lawsuits
Posted: February 22, 2021

In re London Silver Fixing, Ltd. Antitrust Litigation — Settlement Update

In In re London Silver Fixing, Ltd. Antitrust Litigation, Nos. 14-MD-02573, 14-MC-02573 (S.D.N.Y.), class plaintiffs have submitted briefing in support of a proposed settlement (the “Settlement”) with various Deutsche Bank-related defendants (“Deutsche Bank”). As reported in previous posts, this litigation concerns allegations that Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions participated in manipulations of “the fix”, a daily benchmarking auction, and...

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Posted in Market Index Manipulation, Financial Competition Litigation, In re: London Silver Fixing Antitrust Litigation
Posted: February 5, 2021

Beyond Finance: Manipulation of the Marketplace of Ideas

In today’s Manipulation Monitor post, we are taking a short break from covering the financial services industry to show that allegations of market manipulation in violation of antitrust law extends not just to the marketplace for notes, futures, options, government-backed bonds, commodities, or other financial products, but to the marketplace of ideas, i.e. social media and microblogging.

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Market Manipulation Lawsuits
Posted: December 16, 2020

VRDO-Bond Price Fixing Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss

This post reports on S.D.N.Y. Judge Jesse M. Furman’s recent decision largely denying a motion to dismiss a proposed class-action complaint alleging a conspiracy to fix interest rates on Variable Rate Demand Obligations (VRDO) bonds. Background As previously described here, the City of Philadelphia filed a proposed class action alleging that a number of major banks had colluded to inflate...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Government Bond Market Manipulation