AEL Defends Dismissal of Securities Class Action Against Former CFO at Second Circuit

December 13, 2021 - David M. Eskew

On December 9, 2021, AEL partner Ken Abell and associate Scott Glicksman appeared before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to argue that the District Judge in the Eastern District of New York properly dismissed a securities class action against AEL’s client, the former CFO of a publicly-traded company. The AEL team argued that an unrelated guilty plea for insider trading (in which AEL also represented the client) did not provide a basis for plaintiffs to assert a viable securities fraud claim in this matter. The team also argued that, as a threshold matter, the District Court correctly held that the plaintiffs did not have standing to assert a claim against AEL’s client given that the plaintiffs purchased shares prior to the improper trades that formed the basis of the client’s insider trading plea.