Frank Catalina

Frank has a broad range of experience litigating securities and other complex litigation matters from start to finish in federal and state courts nationwide.  For more than a decade, he has represented institutional and individual investors seeking to recover losses caused by fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder oppression, and breach of contract.  Frank maximizes value for his clients by developing and pursuing creative legal strategies geared toward exerting maximum leverage on his opponents throughout the litigation process.  He has successfully executed those strategies in a variety of claims involving public company mergers and acquisitions, CMOs and mortgage-backed securities, stockholder agreements, partnership agreements, and the federal and state RICO statutes.  He also has extensive experience litigating matters involving the valuation of public companies and examining, in the courtroom and in discovery, investment bankers advising those companies on M&A process and valuation.

Frank has dedicated significant time to pro bono work, primarily in advising and representing low-income tenants in eviction proceedings in Essex County, New Jersey.  Prior to his legal career, Frank worked as a sportswriter and served as the Vice President/Business Agent of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local B7 in Denver, Colorado.

Representative Matters:

Tried week-long action in front of Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery on behalf of hedge fund claiming acquisition of controlled high-growth software company by controller was undervalued.

Argued and defeated motions to dismiss fraud and contract-based claims in front of Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery on behalf of activist investor defrauded out of opportunity to exercise board-appointment triggers agreed to by public digital storage company in the matter Starboard Value LP v. Quantum Corporation, C.A. No. 2021-0319 (Del. Ch.).

Successfully prevented the non-consensual release of significant securities-fraud claims in Cayman Islands insolvency proceedings, through negotiation and strategic application of leverage, preserving U.S.-based funds’ claims against a China-based coffee company and its U.S.-based underwriters arising out of fraudulent initial and secondary public offerings of ADS.

Defeated in their entirety motions to dismiss claims arising under the Securities Act of 1933, and common-law fraud claims, against Credit Suisse and other underwriters of fraudulent initial and secondary public offerings of ADS for China-based Luckin Coffee, Inc. in the matter Nuveen Winslow Large-Cap Growth ESG Fund v. Lu, Index No. 655177/2020 (N.Y. Sup.).

Arbitrated and obtained award in fraud claims against seller of inverse interest only Ginnie Mae CMO on behalf of buyer before panel of FINRA arbitrators.

Devised and executed successful discovery strategy, including developing successful litigation theories through key depositions of high-ranking officials involved in selecting, pooling, and securitizing mortgages, resulting in a favorable settlement in mortgage put-back claims brought on behalf of RMBS trustee in the matter of Wilmington Trust Co. v. Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings, LLC, Index No. 652686/2013 (N.Y. Sup.).

Drafted briefs and managed jurisdictional discovery resulting in defeat of successive motions to dismiss significant fraud and RICO claims, on both substantive and jurisdictional grounds, on behalf of defrauded fund investors in claims against Bermuda-based fund administrator.  Maffei v. Apex Fund Services (US), Inc., Docket No. MRS-L-0063-18 (N.J. Super.).

Drafted briefs and deposed Board Chair, CEO, and CFO in derivative action that successfully prevented an abusive transaction from being forced upon public subsidiary company by parent, and that resulted in numerous favorable corporate governance changes at subsidiary company in the matter Appaloosa Investment Limited Partnership I v. SunEdison, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 11898-CB (Del. Ch.).