In the ongoing civil litigation against Madoff feeder fund Fairfield Greenwich and others (see our previous coverage here), Judge Marrero took the unusual step yesterday of denying Standard Chartered’s request for a pre-motion conference for their contemplated summary judgment motion.  Standard Chartered had argued that a summary judgment motion was appropriate on a number

In the civil litigation against the Madoff feeder fund Fairfield Greenwich, its auditors and others, Judge Maas on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), denied the defendants’ letter motion to compel depositions of two SEC employees for the purpose of showing that, since Madoff successfully deceived the SEC, he could have also deceived the defendants.  Judge Maas found the proposed depositions to be of “marginal relevance”:
Continue Reading Judge Maas Rejects Request to Depose SEC Officials to Prove Madoff’s Elusiveness

In the civil litigation against the Madoff feeder fund Fairfield Greenwich and other related parties, the SEC and the defendants recently exchanged briefs on the standard for determining whether the SEC must comply with a nonparty subpoena.  The defendants want to depose current and former SEC employees to elicit testimony showing that, since Madoff successfully deceived the SEC, he could have also deceived the defendants. The SEC’s brief argues the Court cannot compel compliance unless the SEC’s decision to not comply was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act:
Continue Reading Madoff Case Raises Standard of Review When SEC or Other Agencies Balk at Nonparty Subpoenas

Judge Marerro yesterday certified a class against the Fairfield Greenwich feeder funds that invested with Bernard Madoff.  He rejected the argument that individual reliance questions precluded class certification:  “[E]ven assuming Defendants’ claims that certain communications to class members may not have been uniform, they allegedly were uniformly misleading.” The defendants also argued that class certification