The Paul, Weiss Antitrust Practice advises clients on a full range of global antitrust matters, including antitrust regulatory clearance, government investigations, private litigation, and counseling and compliance. The firm represents clients before antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions around the world.
ARS Antitrust Putative Class Action Against Citigroup Dismissed
Judge Barbara Jones of the United States District Court Southern District of New York granted defendants' motion to dismiss two ARS antitrust actions filed against Citigroup Inc., CGMI and various other financial institutions.
The two actions, Mayfield, et al. v. Citigroup, et al. and Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, et al. v. Citigroup, et al., were filed by a putative class of auction rate securities investors and issuers, respectively, who claimed that defendants violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by allegedly conspiring to withdraw from the auction rate securities market on the same day.
Finding all four of the factors in Credit Suisse Secs. (USA) LLC v. Billings met, the court held that plaintiffs' antitrust actions were precluded by the securities laws and, therefore, should be dismissed in their entirety.
The Paul, Weiss team representing Citigroup included litigation partners Brad Karp, Charles Davidow, Kenneth Gallo and Andrew Finch, and associate Charlene Jones.