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: September 4, 2018

SSA Swindling? – Part II – Dismissal With Leave to Replead for Failure to Allege Injury in Fact

This week, we follow last week’s dismissal of In re SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:16-cv-03711-ER (SDNY) (“In re SSA“), an action first introduced in our June 27, 2018, post, where one can find a full account of the alleged collusion in the Amended Complaint. In this post, we focus on the Defendants’ December 12, 2017, Joint Memorandum of Law...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, Government Bond Market Manipulation
Posted: August 27, 2018

Stock Loan Lowdown: Fourth Time’s (still not quite) the Final . . . and Time Will Tell if it’s the Charm

Hello again, fair followers. Presented today for your pleasurable perusal is this pithy pandect of the penultimate paper in the Prime Broker Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss procedure. If perhaps you are pondering the precise past of Defendant’s process in pushing back, I present the proximate program over which I propose you pore: – Stock Loan Lowdown – Stock Loan Lowdown,...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Stock Loans
Posted: August 20, 2018

LIBOR–The Over-the-Counter Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss

In this post, we cover recently filed briefing in In Re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, 11-MD-02262 (“In re Libor“), the multi-district litigation in the Southern District of New York comprised of actions filed across the United States since 2011 relating to manipulation of LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate) for the U.S. dollar. Some may find it hard to...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, Benchmark Rate Manipulation
Posted: August 13, 2018

Stock Loan Lowdown: Third Time Through the Order

Welcome back, followers, friends and fellow antitrust fans, to this third installment of the Stock Loan Lowdown. This time around, we examine the full-blown fortress forged by our persistent plaintiffs in response to the defendants frighteningly (or frustratingly?) far-reaching motion to dismiss. If you’re new around here and wondering just what that motion said, who the parties are, or why...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System v Bank of America Corporation, Stock Loans
Posted: August 6, 2018

SEF Scuttling? Alleged Manipulation of the Interest Rate Swap Market through Torpedoing of All-To-All Platforms and SEF Marketplaces

Interest rate swaps (IRS) are a frequently traded instruments known for their ability to reduce or increase one’s exposure to changes in interest rates. Buy-side funds and firms historically have been reliant on the major sell-side broker-dealer banks like Bank of America to purchase and sell IRS. However according to a number of actions MDL’d to Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust Litigation, Swap Market Manipulation
Posted: July 30, 2018

Mexican Government Bond Market Manipulation

In our May 17, 2018, post, we alerted you to several lawsuits filed in the Southern District of New York alleging manipulation of the market for Mexican government bonds, and noted that one case had already moved to consolidate with other actions. Since then, on June 18, 2018, the Court granted motions by plaintiffs in all six of the following...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Boston Retirement System v. Banco Santander, Financial Competition Litigation, Government Employees' Retirement System of the Virgin Islands v. Banco Santander, In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority Pension Plan v. Banco Santander, Oklahoma Firefighters Pension & Retirement System v Banco Santander, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority v. Banco Santander, United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Participating Food Industry Employers Tri-State Pension Fund v. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Government Bond Market Manipulation
Posted: July 20, 2018

“Fixing” with the Fix? Market Manipulation Litigation for Precious Metals and their Spot and Derivatives

There is indeed gold “in them hills” if you are willing to lie to get it, at least according to the allegations in a number of precious metals litigations that have sprung up since 2013. Currently there are no less than two multi-district litigations relating to gold and silver, and a separate action with respect to platinum and palladium. These...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: Commodity Exchange Gold Futures and Options Trading Litigation, In re: London Silver Fixing Antitrust Litigation, In re: Platinum and Palladium Antitrust Litigation, Commodities Manipulation
Posted: July 13, 2018

High Frequency Trading: Trickery Take Two

Hello sports fans, and welcome back—I know you’ve all been standing by for a second slice of the strange and scintillating story of shenanigans in the snarled sphere of HFT. In this supplemental stab at spelling out the slightly circuitous state of the stock exchange nation, we will cover the Exchange Defendant’s renewed motion to dismiss, Plaintiff’s opposition to that...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, High-Frequency Trading
Posted: July 6, 2018

LIBOR Got a Little Bit of Class

In our June 6, 2018, post, we gave an overview of the general factual allegations made in In Re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, 11-MD-02262 (In re Libor), the multi-district litigation in the Southern District of New York where many civil cases relating to manipulation of LIBOR or the London Interbank Offered Rate for the U.S. dollar have been transferred....

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, Benchmark Rate Manipulation
Posted: June 27, 2018

SSA Swindling?

Even in more niche financial instruments, there are a number of cases asserting allegations of secondary market and bid spread manipulation. This is true of the supranational, sub-sovereign, and agency bond market, better known as the “SSA” market. Since late 2016, 13 actions have been consolidated in In re SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:16-cv-03711-ER (SDNY) (“In re SSA“). In...

READ FULL POST

Posted in Financial Competition Litigation, In re: SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, Government Bond Market Manipulation