Levitt v. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

270 F.R.D. 127, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68251, 2010 WL 2559401
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJune 24, 2010
DocketNo. 99-CV-2789 (ADS)(MLO)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 270 F.R.D. 127 (Levitt v. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Levitt v. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., 270 F.R.D. 127, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68251, 2010 WL 2559401 (E.D.N.Y. 2010).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

SPATT, District Judge.

On September 29, 2009, the Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint against J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp. (“the Defendants”), formerly Bear [129]*129Stearns & Co. Inc. and Bear Stearns Securities Corp. (“Bear Stearns”), alleging that Bear Stearns violated Sections 10(b), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and 20(a), 15 U.S.C. 78t(a), of the Securities Exchange Act. In particular, the Plaintiffs allege that Bear Stearns participated in a scheme with Sterling Foster & Co. (“Sterling Foster”), a brokerage firm, to manipulate the market for ML Direct Inc. (“ML Direct”) securities during and after ML Direct’s initial public offering (“IPO”).

Presently before the Court is the Plaintiffs’ Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 (“Rule 23”) motion for class certification. The putative class consists of investors who purchased ML Direct securities from Sterling Foster between September 4, 1996 and February 18, 1997. The Defendants oppose class certification principally on the grounds that: (1) the Plaintiffs are unable to show a class-wide presumption of reliance; and (2) there is no basis for asserting control person liability against Bear Stearns under Section 20(a). For the reasons discussed below, the Plaintiffs’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

In 1997, shareholders of ML Direct and several other issuers commenced five lawsuits against Sterling Foster and other defendants in the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere. These five suits were consolidated into one action by United States District Court Judge Denis Hurley in October of 1997. The amended and consolidated complaint in Rogers v. Sterling Foster & Co., Inc., et al. (“the Rogers action”) was filed in the Eastern District of New York against Sterling Foster and several other defendants.

In February of 1999, this Court granted the Rogers Plaintiffs’ motion to add Bear Stearns as a defendant. In April of 1999, the Multidistrict Litigation Panel transferred Levitt v. Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and Bear, Stearns Securities Corp., (“the Levitt action”) from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to the consolidated pre-trial proceedings in this Court. The Levitt action concerns securities fraud allegedly committed by Bear Stearns in connection with ML Direct’s IPO.

B. Sterling Foster’s Market Manipulation Scheme

The registration statement for the ML Direct IPO stated that approximately 1.1 million shares of ML Direct common stock would be issued to the public. The registration statement further explained that the shares would be issued in units consisting of two shares of common stock and one common stock purchase warrant. The issue was priced at $15 per unit, so that the price per share at the offering was approximately $7.50. The IPO was underwritten by Patterson Travis, Inc. (“Patterson Travis”).

The registration statement also disclosed that certain ML Direct insiders owned 2.4 million shares of ML Direct common stock at the time of the offering. Pursuant to a “lock-up” agreement that was disclosed in the registration statement and the prospectus, the insiders agreed not to sell their shares in the 12 months following the IPO unless they received permission to do so from Patterson Travis. In particular, the registration statement and prospectus stated that Patterson Travis had “no agreements or understandings with any of the [insiders] with respect to release of the [insiders’ shares] prior to the [expiration of the lockup period] and ha[d] no present intention of releasing any or all of such securities prior to [the expiration of the lockup period].”

The registration statement became effective on September 3, 1996 and trading began the following day. On September 4, 1996, Sterling Foster purchased the majority of ML Direct shares, causing the price of the stock to rise to $15.25 per share by the close of trading that day. On September 4 and 5, 1996, Sterling Foster sold more than 3.375 million shares of ML Direct to the investing public at approximately $14 to $15 per share. Given that there were only 1.1 million shares for sale in the IPO, Sterling Foster had sold approximately 2.3 million shares more than it actually owned. In taking this short position, Sterling Foster was confronted with a problem: the only other available ML Direct shares by which they could cover their posi[130]*130tion were held by the insiders and these shares were subject to the lock-up agreement.

The amended complaint alleges that, to remedy this problem, Sterling Foster and the insiders entered into an undisclosed arrangement. Specifically, the amended complaint alleges that under this secret agreement, Sterling Foster would purchase the insiders’ shares after the offering at $3.25 per share in order to cover Sterling Foster’s short position.

Sterling Foster was required to deliver the shares it sold on September 4 to Bear Stearns, its clearing broker, by September 9, 1996, in order to cover its short position. Sterling Foster failed to deliver the shares by that date. However, on September 10, 1996, Patterson Travis released the insiders from their lock-up agreements and, pursuant to the undisclosed agreement, Sterling Foster purchased their shares at $3.25 per share. Sterling Foster delivered these shares to Bear Stearns on September 11 and 12, 1996, thereby covering its short position. When Sterling Foster covered its short position, it made a profit consisting of the difference between the price at which it sold the shares to the public ($14 to $15 per share) and the price it paid to the insiders ($3.25 per share), a total of approximately $24 million.

The offering documents led the investing public to believe that only 1.1 million shares of ML Direct were being offered when, in fact, 3.375 million shares were being offered. Investors also believed that the market had set the price of $13 to $15 per share when, in actuality, that price had been artificially created by Sterling Foster, which was at the same time purchasing shares from the insiders at only $3.25 per share.

C. Bear Stearns’ Alleged Role in Sterling Foster’s Scheme

Bear Stearns served as a “clearing firm” for Sterling Foster. Clearing brokers play an integral role in the securities industry by providing various services in connection with securities transactions. Affidavit of Henry Minnerop at ¶¶ 11, 12. In an earlier opinion in this case, the Second Circuit provided an instructive overview of the role that clearing firms play in the industry:

A clearing firm clears trades, i.e., completes transactions by delivering securities to the purchasing broker-dealer and by making money payments to the selling broker-dealer. Clearing responsibilities include: receiving or delivering funds from or to the customer; maintaining records that reflect the transaction; and safeguarding the funds in the customer’s account.

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Related

Levitt ex rel. Levitt v. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
9 F. Supp. 3d 259 (E.D. New York, 2014)
Levitt v. J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc.
710 F.3d 454 (Second Circuit, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
270 F.R.D. 127, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68251, 2010 WL 2559401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levitt-v-jp-morgan-securities-inc-nyed-2010.