Lawrence Rolnick

Larry has over 30 years of experience representing investors to recover their losses, defend their rights as stakeholders, and pursue value-generating litigation strategies across the spectrum of investment approaches.  Larry has been instrumental in recovering over $1 billion for professional investors and their clients.   While Larry’s primary focus is the recovery of losses arising from securities fraud via direct action, he has extensive experience in every aspect of investor litigation.  He has represented clients as both plaintiffs and defendants in direct securities claims, class actions, opt out actions, indenture and credit agreement-related actions, appraisal proceedings, bondholder litigations, activist actions and litigation involving structured finance among other areas.

Larry founded Rolnick Kramer Sadighi LLP along with his partners to focus his practice on investor rights and recoveries.  By partnering with clients, he ensures that the nature of the client-lawyer relationship always remains focused on getting results for his clients, and not simply on the hours billed.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Larry has litigated across the United States, with cases in courts in New York, Delaware, Illinois, Florida, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Connecticut, Texas, among other places, as well as arbitral fora including FINRA, AAA, JAMS, and others.

Representative Matters:

• Representing multiple investors, including Janus Capital Group, SunAmerica Asset Management, Brahman Capital, MSD Partners, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., Discovery Capital Management, and Incline Global Management, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against Valeant Pharmaceuticals and several of its former executives in connection with the Company’s undisclosed relationship with a related entity and artificially inflated financials.
• Representing a major investor in a securities fraud action against a major generic pharmaceuticals’ manufacturer.  The investor’s claims were upheld on a motion to dismiss, including claims under Section 18 of the Exchange Act – claims only available to investors who take direct action. 
• Representing Appaloosa in claims arising out of the structured finance underlying the $5 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town in New York City.
• Representing Highfields Capital management and Brahman Capital Management in a securities fraud action in the District of Connecticut related to generic drug price fixing.  Case includes claims involving losses sustained on swap contracts – claims that are almost never covered by Class actions and thus can only generally be recovered via direct action.
• Counseled a major institutional investor regarding securities fraud claims against a Fortune 25 company, successfully settling the matter without filing a complaint.
• Represented Pennant Capital Management in a securities fraud action against Ocwen Financial Corp., a major mortgage servicer. Pennant’s claims were sustained at both the motion to dismiss and summary judgment stages.  The matter was favorably settled immediately prior to trial for a cash amount nearly equal to the entirety of the cash portion of the total class action settlement.
• Represented group of investment funds including Fred Alger Management, Marcato Capital Management, Scopia Capital Management, and Pennant Capital Managment in securities fraud action against Signet Jewelers.  The matter was confidentially resolved. 
• Represented several investor groups, including Cohen & Steers, Balyasny Asset Management, Jet Capital Management and Archer Capital Management, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against VEREIT, Inc. (f/k/a American Realty Capital Properties Inc.), and several of its former senior executives in connection with accounting fraud. The matter was confidentially resolved.
• Represented large institutional investors in a direct action against American International Group Inc. for securities fraud related to allegations that AIG inflated its earnings and paid illegal commissions in a bid-rigging scheme. The large institutional investor won an appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the panel reversed a dismissal by the district court and remanded for further proceedings; soon after, the matter was settled.
• Represented Cohen & Steers in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against Brixmor Property Group and others arising out of alleged accounting fraud. The matter was confidentially resolved. 
• Represented Discovery Capital Management in a direct securities fraud action against Petrobras and others related to its alleged bid-rigging and kickback scheme. Discovery’s claims were sustained after a motion to dismiss. The matter was confidentially settled before trial. 
• Represented Highfields Capital Management and another investor in direct actions against Barrick Gold Corporation related to fraud allegations involving its major South American mining project, Pascua Lama. Highfields’ claims and the other investors’ claims were sustained on a motion to dismiss, and the matter was confidentially settled. 
• Represented entities related to Fred Alger Management and Valinor Capital Management in direct actions against LendingClub Corporation related to allegations regarding fraud by its former CEO and other executives. The matter was confidentially settled. 
• Represented Appaloosa Management and W.R. Huff Asset Management Co. in prosecuting hundreds of millions of dollars of claims arising out of the Adelphia securities scandal.
• Represented a large institutional investor in direct claims for securities fraud against Tyco International and certain of its former officers.
• Represented Cadian Capital in direct claims for alleged securities fraud against MF Global and former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine.
• Represented Special Situations Funds in a separately filed companion case to the Suprema class action for damages for securities purchased by SSF in Suprema Specialties.
• Represented a group of senior lenders under a credit agreement in an action against Freescale Semiconductor Inc. The breach of contract and declaratory judgment action was brought by several funds affiliated with institutional investors ING, INVESCO, Babson, Denali, Eaton Vance, and others, which lent approximately $400 million to Freescale. Plaintiffs alleged that Freescale breached the credit agreement when it issued approximately $924 million in incremental term loans. The case was successfully settled on confidential terms.

Representative Appraisal Rights Matters

• Representing a shareholder group in an appraisal action regarding the purchase of Reynolds American by British American Tobacco.
• Represented a investment fund in an appraisal action concerning Kindred Healthcare.  The matter was resolved by a confidential settlement prior to trial.
• Represented a hedge fund investor in Aeroflex Holding Corp., which pursued their statutory right to appraisal in Delaware following the company's acquisition by British defense contractor Cobham plc for $1.5 billion. The case was favorably resolved by a confidential settlement prior to trial.
• Represented the largest outside investor group in CKx Inc. (n/k/a CORE Media Group); the group pursued their statutory right to appraisal of their $50+ million stake in the company following the acquisition of CKx by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management in 2011. CKx was the owner and manager of such iconic brands as American Idol, Elvis Presley Enterprises, and Muhammad Ali.
• Represented the Magnetar Funds in their appraisal claims against Dell in an appraisal case involving nearly half a billion dollars' worth of Dell shares brought by shareholders challenging the value of the merger price paid by Michael Dell and Silver Lake in their take-private acquisition of Dell in October 2013. The matter also involved statutory interest.
• Represented a hedge fund investor in Digital River Inc., who pursued statutory appraisal rights in Delaware arising out of Digital River's merger acquisition by an investor group led by Siris Capital Group LLC.

Publications:

Larry is a contributor to the RKS Valuation Litigation and Shareholder Rights (VLSR) blog, a clearinghouse for news and analysis involving global issues of shareholder and investor rights, including investor’s ability to use appraisal litigation to preserve value in mergers and other corporate events.

Media:

Numerous media organizations have covered the formation of Rolnick Kramer Sadighi LLP, a “premier securities litigation boutique dedicated to serving the investment management industry, including hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity, credit, real estate and structured finance firms.” Other outlets covering the formation include: Law.com; NJBiz; Bloomberg.com; and AlternativesWatch.com.