New York securities lawyers are taking notice at the decision rendered to have HSBC pay $62.5 million in a class-action lawsuit claiming the bank was negligent as the custodian of client money lost in Bernie Madoff’s investment scam, according to Erik Larson and Linda Sandler’s article “HSBC Agrees to Pay $62.5 Million to End Madoff Civil Case” in Bloomberg’s Businessweek.
The civil securities fraud claim in New York was filed against HSBC and other defendants by investors in the Ireland-based Thema International Fund Plc. HSBC admitted no wrongdoing as a result of the settlement.New York securities attorneys have seen a slew of cases alleging investment fraud since the beginning of the economic downturn. Of course, the Madoff scandal has made international news. But there have been hundreds of others involving securities, real estate investments and other investment vehicles. In many cases, people simply made bad investments or were caught holding an investment when the bottom fell out of the market.
In other cases, mid-level executives are facing allegations of failure to supervise, failure to execute or breach of fiduciary duty. In all cases, the best defense is to bring in a New York securities law firm as early as possible once allegations have been made or an investigation has been initiated.