Bankruptcy Court Approves Settlement of MF Global Litigation Trust Claims Against Corzine et al.

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David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics, filed two expert reports on behalf of the Litigation Trustee of the MF Global Litigation Trust in MF Global Holdings Ltd. Investment Litigation, Joseph Deangelis (Tavakoli) v. Corzine et al, In the United States District Court Southern District of New York 12 MD 2338 (VM), 11 Civ. 7886 (VM), under Judge Victor Marrero.

The opinions provided in Dr. Mordecai’s reports, filed in August and September 2015, focused primarily on causation (as well as foreseeability), within the context of the accumulation of Euro sovereign repo-to-maturity exposure in excess of the firm’s creditworthiness and capital base. He subsequently testified at deposition in this matter during November 2015, and defendants initiated settlement negotiations subsequent to Dr. Mordecai’s deposition.

On September 16, 2013, the Litigation Trustee had directed the filing of an amended complaint in the Adversary Proceeding (Adv. Docket No. 22), which ultimately consolidated this matter with the Multi-District Litigation (the “MDL“) under the caption DeAngelis v. Corzine, Docket No. 11-CV-07866 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (MDL Docket No. 513).

The Litigation Trustee entered into a certain Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement dated as of July 6, 2016 (the “MDL Settlement Agreement“), which resolved the Litigation Trust Claims. The Litigation Trustee, with MF Global Holdings Ltd. (“MFGH“), as Plan Administrator, moved on July 20, 2016 for approval of the MDL Settlement Agreement (Docket No. 2271), and the Bankruptcy Court approved the MDL Settlement Agreement on August 10, 2016 (Docket No. 2282).

On August 24, 2016, the Litigation Trustee and the Plan Administrator moved for approval of the agreement allocating the consideration received by the Litigation Trust and the Plan Administrator under the MDL Settlement Agreement (Docket No. 2291). The Bankruptcy Court approved the allocation agreement on December 1, 2016 (Docket No. 2322).

Dr. Mordecai was primarily supported by Samantha Kappagoda from Risk Economics, and a team of economists. He worked with a team of attorneys led by Bruce Bennett, and which included Michael McCauley, Michael Schneidereit and Alexandra Fries from Jones Day.

MF Global

David K.A. Mordecai is President and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, a New York City based advisory firm. Risk Economics specializes in the application of computational economics to the proprietary development and scalable implementation of robust modeling and data analytic frameworks for valuation, strategic and systemic risk analysis, and dynamic asset-liability management.

As lead for the Risk Economics® litigation, regulation and arbitration expert advisory practice, David Mordecai serves as an expert on loss causation and economic damages related to market structure, financial institutions governance, and complex issues related to finance, economics and market standards and practices within securities, derivatives, reinsurance, and commodities markets, as well as market structure within a broad range of non-financial industry sectors. His expertise includes industrial and financial engineering, the valuation of fixed income securities and structured products, including over-the-counter derivatives (in particular fixed income and credit derivatives), complex insurance and reinsurance liabilities, as well as asset liability and risk management models and practices. He has advised and provided technical oversight for internal regulatory investigations, as well as stress-testing for global financial institutions. Having testified extensively at deposition, trial, arbitration and international arbitration, he has been admitted as an expert in federal, state and county courts, and cited favorably in court decisions.