Blogs

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: November 6, 2018

SEF Scuttling? Alleged Manipulation of the Interest Rate Swap Market – Part II – Buy-Side Funds Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss Shelling, but Not Unscathed.

This week we cover the July 28, 2017, decision on the Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint in Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:16-md-02704 (SDNY) (“IRS Antitrust Litigation”), an action previously introduced in our August 6, 2018, post, where one can find a full account of the alleged collusion. The Court granted Defendants’ motion for the time period...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust Litigation, Swap Market Manipulation
Posted: October 26, 2018

Mexican Government Bond Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Part Two

In this post, we follow up on our October 2, 2018, post, which covered arguments made by the Defendants in In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 18-cv-02830 (In re MGB) to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (the “Complaint”) concerning whether Plaintiffs made plausible allegations of an antitrust conspiracy and made adequate allegations for individual defendants. We now...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, Government Bond Market Manipulation
Posted: October 17, 2018

Alleged Aluminum Allocation Fixing – Part II – Failure to Allege that the Injury was “Inextricably Intertwined”

This week we cover the Motion to Dismiss and affirming Appellate decisions decided in 2014 and 2016 in In re: Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, 1:13-md-02481-KBF (SDNY), an action previously introduced in our September 24, 2018, post, where one can find a full account of the alleged collusion. Brief Overview of the Alleged Collusion Plaintiffs allege a conspiracy by the London...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, Commodities Manipulation
Posted: October 10, 2018

Stock Loan Lowdown: Class NOT Dismissed

Counsel for Iowa Public must have gone home happy on September 27th, as the long-awaited motion to dismiss decision could hardly have played out more favorably for them. With the caveat that “it remains to be seen whether Plaintiffs’ factual allegations will be born out in discovery,” Judge Failla rejected each of Defendants five bases for dismissal and denied their...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Stock Loans
Posted: October 5, 2018

Bank of America Pays $30 Million Civil Penalty For Attempted Manipulation Of USD ISDAFIX Benchmark

Reuters and Yahoo News are reporting that the CFTC has ordered Bank of America N.A. to pay a fine of $30 million to settle charges that it “made false reports and attempted to manipulate the U.S. Dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix (USD ISDAFIX), a leading global benchmark” between 2007 and 2012. The US Dollar ISDAFIX benchmark is referenced...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Benchmark Rate Manipulation
Posted: October 3, 2018

Chicago Board Options Exchange Takes Steps To Address Volatility Index Manipulation Concerns

Reuters reports that CBOE is working with FINRA “to develop machine learning techniques to tell whether market conditions surrounding the VIX settlement are potentially anomalous” in order to address concerns that traders could manipulate its VIX volatility index by strategically placing S&P options orders....

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Commodities Manipulation
Posted: October 2, 2018

Mexican Government Bond Defendants Seek Dismissal–Part 1

In this post, we cover a recently filed motion by the defendants in In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 18-cv-02830, (In re MGB) to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (the “Complaint”) for failure to state a claim. The motion to dismiss is available here. Certain of the defendants also have filed a motion to dismiss for lack...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, Government Bond Market Manipulation
Posted: September 24, 2018

Alleged Aluminum Allocation Fixing

This week we cover the allegations in the multi-district litigation In re: Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, 1:13-md-02481-KBF (SDNY) (“In re Aluminum Antitrust Litigation”). We will leave a discussion of the subsequent motion to dismiss briefing and decision, and the appeals to a later date. In short, the Plaintiffs in In re Aluminum Antitrust Litigation allege that Defendants created a monopolistic...

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Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, Commodities Manipulation
Posted: September 18, 2018

The VIX is Fixed?! A Preview of the Tricks

A new [academic] year, a new manipulation to monitor. Today’s subject is none other than the fixing of the VIX. It’s time for a trip back in time. Not very far back, though – just to the 23rd of May, 2017, the date on which John Griffin and Amin Shams published Manipulation in the VIX?, a 37-page (or 57-with-references), extensively...

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Posted in In re: Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index Manipulation Antitrust Litigation, Financial Competition Litigation, Commodities Manipulation