Latest Developments

On May 5, 2009, Labaton Sucharow LLP filed a motion to request limited jurisdictional discovery from Defendants. On June 12, 2009, the judge granted the motion and allowed Lead Plaintiff to serve interrogatories and requests for admissions on Defendants as to the issue of jurisdiction.

The motions to dismiss the complaint on the basis of jurisdiction were due by June 17, 2009. Defendants HSBC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Anthony L.M. Inderrieden, and Brian Wilkinson filed motions to dismiss on the basis of jurisdiction. Optimal, BSI, Banco Santander and Echeverría did not.

On August 19, 2009, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all the cases in Miami relating to the Madoff scandal that name Santander and Optimal as defendants.

On October 21, 2009, Plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Amended Complaint. The motions to dismiss will be fully submitted by December 23, 2009.  Currently, there is no hearing scheduled before the Court.

Previous Developments

On April 17, 2009, Labaton Sucharow was appointed Co-Lead Counsel for Lead Plaintiffs, Inversiones Mar Octava Limitada, International Harvester Limited, and San Javier International Limited in In Re Banco Santander Securities-Optimal Litigation, Case No. 09-20215-CIV-Huck/O’Sullivan (S.D.Fla.).

In connection with losses caused by the Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”) ponzi scheme, the securities class action was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of all persons who continued to have an investment in the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund on December 10, 2008.

The class action has been filed against: (i) Banco Santander, S.A.; (ii) Banco Santander International; (iii) Optimal Investment Services, S.A.; (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers (Ireland); (v) HSBC Securities Services (Ireland) Ltd.; (vi) HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Ireland) Ltd.; (vii) Manuel Echeverría Falla; (viii) Anthony L.M. InderRieden; and (ix) Brian Wilkinson. The putative Class seeks a recovery of billions of dollars in damages.

The Complaint’s principal allegation is that Defendants were negligent and reckless in investing substantially all of the assets of the Strategic US Equity Fund with Madoff and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BMIS”) without conducting reasonable and adequate due diligence. As alleged in the Complaint, Defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing materially false and misleading statements about their due diligence and oversight of Madoff and BMIS. Among the false statements made in the Explanatory Memorandum dated January 7, 2008 that was distributed to investors was the false assurance that Optimal “bases its investment decisions on a careful analysis of many investment managers.” Had Defendants conducted a reasonably “careful analysis” of Madoff and BMIS, Defendants would not have lost billions of dollars belonging to the investors. In addition, the Complaint also alleges common law causes of action, including breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and professional malpractice.