Law360, Wilmington (July 19, 2011) -- Washington Mutual Inc. shareholders said Tuesday at a hearing in Delaware bankruptcy court that Aurelius Capital Management LP’s counsel facilitated improper trading during WaMu’s bankruptcy, keeping the hedge fund abreast of settlement talks as it traded freely from the sidelines.
The hedge fund — one of four accused of insider trading by shareholders in an effort to derail WaMu’s reorganization plan — drifted in and out of settlement negotiations to resolve the biggest bank failure in U.S. history. But its law firm, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, passed along critical details from the talks to Aurelius, enabling the hedge fund to trade on material nonpublic information, a shareholder committee attorney said.
Committee attorney Parker Folse of Susman Godfrey LLP made the allegations during a withering cross-examination of Aurelius managing director Dan Gropper, which spanned two days during WaMu’s Chapter 11 plan confirmation hearing. Gropper bristled at the idea that Aurelius and Fried Frank, which also represented three other hedge funds implicated by shareholders, were anything but meticulous in their compliance with securities laws and confidentiality agreements.
“You can’t do this halfway,” Gropper said. “This doesn’t operate on a wink and a nod. What you are suggesting would not be appropriate.”
Shareholders have tied their hopes of a recovery in the case to insider trading claims against Aurelius, Owl Creek Asset Management LP, Appaloosa Management LP and Centerbridge Partners LP, which stem from the hedge funds’ involvement in settlement negotiations between WaMu, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The settlement, cleared by the court in January, splits $10 billion in assets between WaMu and JPMorgan, and releases billions in claims among the three over the FDIC’s seizure of WaMu’s affiliated bank after it failed in 2008 and the subsequent sale of the bank to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion.
Fried Frank remained at the negotiating table to represent the hedge funds, which hold $2 billion in WaMu securities, after they ceased direct involvement in the talks and resumed unrestricted trading. But the firm was on strict instructions not to discuss the substance of settlement proposals with Aurelius, Gropper testified, unless the hedge fund agreed beforehand to limit its trades.
Folse pointed to major movement in Aurelius’ position in January 2010 toward WaMu’s subordinated bonds as evidence that the hedge fund knew a deal was near, even though the debtors and JP Morgan maintained an outwardly litigious posture at the time.
The shareholder committee also produced emails between Fried Frank and the debtor suggesting that the hedge funds were directing the firm in the talks based on the specifics of one settlement proposal that had not been disclosed to the public.
Daniel Krueger, a managing director at Owl Creek, took the stand after Gropper and testified that his firm operated under the assumption that settlement proposals could never be considered material nonpublic information.
“Only when a deal is reached,” Krueger said.
Witnesses for the remaining hedge funds will take the stand Wednesday and Thursday as WaMu rounds out it plan confirmation hearing.
The insider trading allegations, if substantiated, could convince U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath to impose the lower, federal judgment interest rate on the hedge fund’s claims, rather than the contracted rate — which the shareholders hope will free up value for their own claims.
The shareholders have also moved for standing to sue Centerbridge and Aurelius and potentially disallow their claims in the bankruptcy entirely.
WaMu is represented by Brian S. Rosen of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP as well as Mark D. Collins, Chun I. Jang, Travis A. McRoberts and Julie A. Finocchiaro of Richards Layton & Finger PA.
The equity committee is represented by William P. Bowden, Gregory A. Taylor and Stacy L. Newman of Ashby & Geddes PA as well as Edgar Sargent, Stephen D. Susman and Seth D. Ard of Susman Godfrey LLP.
The case is In re: Washington Mutual Inc. et al., case number 1:08-bk-12229, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.