Securities & Exchange Commission v. Illarramendi

260 F. Supp. 3d 166
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedApril 13, 2017
DocketCivil No. 3:11-cv-78 (JBA)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 260 F. Supp. 3d 166 (Securities & Exchange Commission v. Illarramendi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Securities & Exchange Commission v. Illarramendi, 260 F. Supp. 3d 166 (D. Conn. 2017).

Opinion

RULING ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Janet Bond Arterton, U.S.D.J.

Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”) moves [Doc. # 1017] for Summary Judgment against Defendant Francisco A. Illar-ramendi (“Mr. Illarramendi”) on Claims for Relief Two, Three, and Four of the Second Amended Complaint [Doc. #190] for violations of the antifraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”) and seeks an order enjoining him from future violations of the Advisers Act, requiring disgorgement, and imposing a civil penalty.1 For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS the Commission’s Motion for Summary Judgment and imposes injunctive relief, disgorgement, and a civil penalty as set forth below.

I. Background

The SEC argues that Mr. Illarramendi’s guilty plea to violation of the same provisions of the Advisers Act before Judge Stefan Underhill in the companion criminal case, United States v. Illarramendi, 11-cr-41 (SRU), should collaterally estop him from challenging liability in this case, including the material facts presented as undisputed. In the alternative, the SEC argues that Mr. Illarramendi’s sworn testimony in this case given in the preliminary injunction proceedings in connection with the asset freeze concedes the material facts necessary to establish liability.

In his D. Conn. L. Civ. R. 56(a)2 statement (“56(a)2 Stmt.”), Mr. Illarramendi denies many of the factual allegations set forth by the SEC but neglects to point to supporting evidence in the record, as required by Local Rule 56(a)(3). See D. Conn. L. Civ. R. 56(a)3 (“Each denial in Plaintiffs Local Rule 56(a)2 Statement must be followed by a specific citation to (1) the affidavit of a witness competent to testify as to the facts at trial and/or (2) evidence that would be admissible at trial”). The rule specifically states that “Counsel and pro se parties are hereby notified that failure to provide specific citations to evidence in the record as required by this Local Rule may result in the Court deeming certain facts that are supported by the evidence admitted.” Id.

Notwithstanding Defendant’s failure to comply with Local Rule 56(a)3, given his pro se status, the Court has independently reviewed the summary judgment record to determine whether it contains support for Mr. Illarramendi’s denials, but found only conclusory, speculative and self-serving denials of his admissions made at his criminal plea allo-[171]*171cution or unparticularized references to threats and extortion not supported by evidence.2 This is insufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment, especially where Defendant has admitted these material facts either before this Court or in the court of his criminal prosecution. Plaintiff “cannot create a triable issue of fact merely by stating in an affidavit the very proposition [he is] trying to prove.” Hicks v. Baines, 593 F.3d 159, 167 (2d Cir. 2010); see also Jeffreys v. City of New York, 426 F.3d 549, 554 (2d Cir. 2005) (The nonmoving party “may not rely on conclusory allegations or unsubstantiated speculation”) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); McPherson v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Educ., 457 F.3d 211, 215 n. 4 (2d Cir. 2006) (“[SJpeculation alone is insufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment”); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (the nonmovant must offer “concrete evidence from which a reasonable juror could return a verdict in his favor.”).

After review of the summary judgment record, the Court has found the following facts established, either through Defendant’s admissions before this Court, or at his guilty plea. The Court separates these two sets of admissions because, although it finds summary judgment would be appropriate based solely on the admissions made in proceedings in this case, the admissions Mr. Illarramendi made in his criminal case provide additional and independent grounds to find Mr. Illarramendi liable for the violations claimed here.

[172]*172A. Admissions to this Court

In testimony before this Court at the hearing on the SEC’s motion seeking to freeze Defendants’ assets, 'including funds controlled by Highview Point Partners, Mr. Illarramendi stated that he" spent the first ten years of his career in the securities industry at Credit Suisse, worked for a year as a financial adviser to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (“PDVSA”), and in the early 2000s moved to Highview Point Partners and the Michael Kenwood Group, where he managed funds including the Highview Point Master Fund. (See Ex. H (“05/25/2011 TRO Tr.”) to Mot.' for Summ. J. [Doc. # 1017-12] at 319:11-19.) While at Credit Suisse, he developed a form of financial transaction that' enabled participants to exploit the difference between the official Venezuelan Bolivar — U.S. Dollar exchange rate and the unofficial rate, called the “permuta” exchange rate. (Id. at 320:21-321:8.)

After moving to the Michael Kenwood Group, Mr. Illarramendi directed the funds under its advisement to engage in the same kind of foreign exchange arbitrage transactions. (Id. at 329:11-21.) He explained how the transaction worked to his co-workers and to investors in the fund, including the lead investor, and he solicited new investors on the basis of representations about this transaction. (Id. at 327:24-328:24; 335:21-336:7.)

Mr. Illarramendi testified that in October 2005, after a counterparty backed out of part of an arbitrage transaction, he was forced to sell an instrument r at a much lower price than anticipated, thereby incurring a $5 million loss for Highview Point Master Fund. (Id. at 359:4-23.) He did not disclose this loss to investors or to his partners and principals. (Id. at 360:10-25.) Instead of disclosing the loss, he “tried to recover the money and ... failed to do so, thereby ... increasing ... the amount of the mismanagement betweeh assets and liabilities to approximately $30 million.” He later explained that he tried to cover the loss “through options trading and other transactions, and they didn’t go well.” (Id. at 360:10-25; 361:20-23.) Mr. Illarramendi stated that the $30 million “hole” was “created by me” and that .“part of [the hole] was money that essentially was Highview Point’s money and part of which was money from other investors that participated in transactions with us.” (Id. at. 361:9-14.) Mr. Illarramendi conceded that the “hole” may have grown to as much as $300 million. (Id. at 355:10-22.)3

Mr. Illarramendi testified that he agreed with his.supervisor that they would conceal the loss and not disclose it to investors, and that Mr. Illarramendi would try to “raise as much money as possible to be able to make it so that the gains from ... the additional póney would eventually cover the loss.” (Id. at 364:3-25.) He explained that “the way I tried to solve the problem was to run ... a unified treasury function ... where the money, no matter where it came from, was used either to invest in transactions or to pay ... investors that were lending to the pot.” (Id. at 365:23-366:3.)

Mr. Illarramendi admitted that he used a.

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260 F. Supp. 3d 166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-exchange-commission-v-illarramendi-ctd-2017.