VICTOR MARRERO, District Judge.
Lead Plaintiff Dodona I, LLC, on behalf of itself and others similarly situated
The Court has previously addressed in detail the facts surrounding Plaintiffs' investments
During 2006 and 2007, Plaintiffs privately acquired highly-leveraged securities issued by the Hudson 1 and Hudson 2 CDOs, which were structured by GS & Co, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Goldman.
A Goldman subsidiary, Goldman Sachs International ("GSI"), acted as the "credit protection buyer" for the Hudson CDOs. As the credit protection buyer, GSI agreed to make period premium payments to the "credit protection seller" — here, Plaintiffs — during the lifetime of the CDS in exchange for payments from the credit protection seller if the ROs experienced defaults or other adverse credit events. As such, GSI took "short" positions on
Thus, if the RMBS ROs used in the Hudson CDOs were to perform well, the Plaintiffs stood to gain from the transaction. If, however, the ROs underperformed, then GSI would benefit. Of course, by mid-2007, much of the subprime RMBS market — including the ROs used by the Hudson CDOs — were subject to credit watches, ratings downgrades, and significant price deterioration. As a result of these negative credit events in the RMBS market, Plaintiffs, who held long positions, lost much of their investment in the Hudson CDOs. But GSI, as the credit protection buyer, profited from that same decrease in RMBS value.
In 2010, after several senior Goldman officials testified before a United States Senate Subcommittee hearing regarding Goldman's subprime mortgage-related activities, it became publicly known that, prior to structuring the Hudson CDOs, Goldman held significant long exposure to subprime RMBS and Goldman sought to reduce this exposure by taking offsetting short positions on RMBS. Plaintiffs then filed the instant action, asserting fraudbased claims under New York common law, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), 15 U.S.C. Section 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, 17 C.F.R. Section 240.10b-5, and Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 78t, against Defendants. To support those claims, Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants created the Hudson CDOs as part of a scheme to decrease Goldman's subprime exposure at the expense of its investors by shorting those same CDOs; that Defendants failed to disclose this strategy to investors; and that Defendants failed to disclose that they did not reasonably believe that the Hudson CDOs would be profitable for investors like Dodona.
At the motion to dismiss phase, the Court held that Defendants had no duty to disclose that they structured the Hudson CDOs as part of a strategy to reduce their long position, and thus this theory could not form the basis of their fraud-based claims. See Dodona I, 847 F.Supp.2d at 646. The Court also found that the Plaintiffs had not adequately pleaded fraud claims based on market manipulation, because the Amended Class Action Complaint failed to allege that there was "an open and developed market for the Hudson CDOs, or even that the price of the Hudson CDO securities reflected all publicly available information, and hence, any material misrepresentations." See id. at 651 (internal quotation marks omitted). However, the Court did not dismiss all of Plaintiffs' claims. The Court held that the Plaintiffs had adequately pleaded their fraud-based claims on a single omissions theory: whether Defendants genuinely believed that the Hudson CDOs did not have a realistic chance of being profitable for investors, and did not adequately disclose those beliefs. See id. at 646.
Now, Defendants, move for summary judgment for dismissal of all surviving claims against them. In their Main Motion, Defendants argue that: (1) there is no evidence that Defendants violated Section 10(b) or committed common law fraud, because the Plaintiffs have not shown evidence that any actionable misrepresentations or omissions were made by Defendants, that class members reasonably relied on any purported misrepresentation or omission, or that misrepresentations or omissions caused their losses; (2) the class purchased the securities pursuant
Additionally, Defendants move for summary judgment as to the claims of certain class members on additional grounds. In their Certain Class Members Motion, Defendants argue that, for reasons not applicable to the entire class, the Plaintiffs cannot show the necessary elements of fraud for certain class members. In particular, Defendants argue that: (1) some of the class members purchased Hudson CDO securities in non-domestic transactions, and thus should be barred from recovery under the federal securities laws under Morrison v. Nat'l Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247, 130 S.Ct. 2869, 177 L.Ed.2d 535 (2010); (2) that some of the class members demonstrably did not rely on an alleged misrepresentation made by Defendants, because those class members either admitted their non-reliance in sworn declarations or could not have relied by virtue of their roles as global investment banks trading extensively in the RMBS and the CDO markets; (3) that one class member sold its position in the Hudson CDOs before the earliest date on which the allegedly concealed risk materialized; and (4) that certain class members suffered no loss, either because they were Goldman sponsored CDOs or because they held larger short positions on the underlying ROs.
As discussed infra, upon review of the summary judgment record — which follows a lengthy discovery period, and includes numerous emails, deposition transcripts, financial documents, and other material — the Court finds Defendants have satisfied their burden of demonstrating the absence of any genuine issue of material fact. The record does demonstrate, as acknowledged by Defendants (see Defs.' Mem. at 11 n. 9), that Goldman held substantial long positions on subprime RMBS in 2006 and 2007, and that the Hudson CDOs were part of Goldman's internal strategy to reduce that exposure. But crucially absent from the summary judgment record is sufficient evidence supporting the sole claim in dispute: that Defendants structured the Hudson CDOs with the expectation that they would fail, or that Defendants were particularly aware of an undisclosed risk of Plaintiffs' investing in the RMBS market. Thus, the Court is not persuaded that a genuine dispute of material fact exists here as to the presence of an actionable omission.
Therefore, the Court
The Court may grant a motion for summary judgment only "if the movant shows
The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of any genuine issues of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). If the moving party satisfies its burden, the non-moving party must provide specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial in order to survive the motion for summary judgment. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Shannon v. New York City Transit Auth., 332 F.3d 95, 98-99 (2d Cir. 2003). To do so, it "must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts, and it may not rely on conclusory allegations or unsubstantiated speculation." In re Celestica Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 07-CV312, 2014 WL 4160216, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 20, 2014) (internal quotation marks. and citations omitted). "Rather, the non-moving party must produce admissible evidence that supports its pleadings. In this regard, the mere existence of a scintilla of evidence supporting the non-movant's case is also insufficient to defeat summary judgment." Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Plaintiffs claim that GS & Co, Ostrem, and Herrick made misrepresentations and omissions of material fact in connection with the Hudson CDO offerings in violation of Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. To state a claim under Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 for misrepresentations, a plaintiff must allege that the defendant (1) made misstatements or omissions of material fact, (2) with scienter,
Plaintiffs also allege Section 20(a) claims against Defendants for controlling at least one primary violator and being culpable participants in the alleged fraudulent omissions. See Dodona I, 847 F.Supp.2d at 651-52. Liability for violations of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act is derivative of liability for violations of Section 10(b). See S.E.C. v. First Jersey Sec. Inc., 101 F.3d 1450, 1472 (2d Cir. 1996). Section 20(a) imposes liability upon
Plaintiffs allege New York common law fraud and fraudulent concealment against all Defendants. The elements of common law fraud under New York law are: "(1) a material misrepresentation or omission of fact, (2) made with knowledge of its falsity, (3) with an intent to defraud, and (4) reasonable reliance on the part of the plaintiff, (5) that causes damage to the plaintiff." Haggerty v. Ciarelli & Dempsey, 374 Fed.Appx. 92, 94 (2d Cir.2010) (internal citations omitted). "Because the elements of common-law fraud are substantially identical to those governing [Section] 10(b), the identical analysis applies." In re Optimal U.S. Litig., 837 F.Supp.2d 244, 252 (S.D.N.Y.2011) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Additionally, Plaintiffs allege aiding and abetting fraud claims against Goldman, Ostrem, and Herrick. To state a claim for aiding and abetting fraud under New York law, a plaintiff must plead facts showing: (1) the existence of a fraud; (2) defendant's knowledge of the fraud; and (3) that the defendant provided substantial assistance to advance the fraud's commission. See Wight v. BankAmerica Corp., 219 F.3d 79, 91 (2d Cir.2000). "The knowledge requirement of an aiding and abetting fraud claim is satisfied by alleging actual knowledge of the underlying fraud." JP Morgan Chase Bank v. Winnick, 406 F.Supp.2d 247, 252 (S.D.N.Y.2005) (internal citation omitted). "A defendant provides substantial assistance only if [she] affirmatively assists, helps conceal, or by virtue of failing to act when required to do so enables [the fraud] to proceed." Id. at 256 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Finally, Plaintiffs claim that Goldman and GS & Co were unjustly enriched at Plaintiffs' expense. Under New York law, an unjust enrichment claim requires a plaintiff to prove that: "(1) [the] defendant was enriched, (2) at plaintiff's expense, and (3) equity and good conscience militate against permitting defendant to retain what plaintiff is seeking to recover." Ashland v. Morgan Stanley & Co., 652 F.3d 333, 339 (2d Cir.2011).
As the Court framed the inquiry in Dodona I, for Plaintiffs' fraud-based claims to survive, they must be premised on one specific omissions-based theory: that Defendants were aware of singularly prohibitive risks associated with the Hudson CDOs in particular, yet failed to disclose those risks completely and accurately. See 847 F.Supp.2d at 647. Since the Offering Circulars contained affirmative representations regarding the risks of investing in the RMBS market, the Defendants had a duty to ensure that those statements were accurate and complete. See Panther Partners, Inc. v. Ikanos Commc'ns, Inc., 538 F.Supp.2d 662, 669 (S.D.N.Y.2008) ("[R]isk disclosures must accurately characterize the scope and specificity of the
At the motion to dismiss stage, in accordance with the applicable standard, the Court accepted Plaintiffs' allegations of undisclosed investment risk as true. However, now with the benefit of discovery, the Plaintiffs have not pointed to any evidence, beyond mere speculation, sufficient to demonstrate "singularly prohibitive risks" of which Defendants were aware and which they failed to disclose; thus, the Court finds that the risk disclosures Defendants did make were not misleading in this context and cannot support an actionable omissions theory.
Plaintiffs argue that three main categories of evidence support their argument that Defendants concealed investment risk, thereby making omissions of material fact. The Court is not persuaded that Plaintiffs have done more than make conclusory allegations or unsubstantiated speculation, even when considered in the aggregate, in arguing that Defendants made actionable omissions. First, Plaintiffs point to emails and documents from Goldman employees indicating that the Hudson CDOs were "crap," "junk that nobody was dumb enough to take [the] first time around," and consisted of "lemons" that Goldman sought to "offload" onto client investors. (See Pls.' Opp. Mem. at 10, 12)
The Court did consider these emails and others similar to them at the motion to dismiss phase — but the Court considered these emails primarily as part of its assessment that Plaintiffs had adequately alleged facts supporting an inference of recklessness as to scienter. Dodona I, 847 F.Supp.2d at 642-44. See also In re Citigroup Inc. Sec. Litig., 753 F.Supp.2d 206, 236-37 (S.D.N.Y.2010) (considering similar email correspondence in finding that plaintiffs had adequately pleaded scienter at motion to dismiss phase). Such emails would support an inference of recklessness, if Plaintiffs could point to specific information that Goldman omitted. That some Goldman employees — especially traders or employees in sales — described RMBS as "junk" in their emails is not enough to show a dispute of material fact as to whether Goldman, as a knowing business strategy, did conceal actual investment risk.
Other emails Plaintiffs relied on deal specifically with Goldman's internal strategy of reducing its long exposure through structuring the Hudson CDOs (see Pls.' Opp. Mem. at 12) — a strategy that Goldman had no duty to disclose. For example, documents cited by Plaintiffs discuss using the Hudson CDOs "to help move some of the risk," as a "structured exit," as a way to "offload close to 20 pet of its current long BBB/BBB-risk," or to "reduce risk in a situation where there were few opportunities to shed the ABX indices [Goldman was] long."
Second, Plaintiffs argue that Defendants concealed the likelihood that the Hudson CDOs would decline in value, as the Defendants controlled the sourcing and pricing of the CDS, and set credit enhancements. (See Pls.' Opp. Mem. at 10, 14.) However, the Plaintiffs have not shown, beyond mere speculation, that Defendants concealed material investment risk about the structure of the Hudson CDOs or did not provide adequate structural enhancements.
If, however, Plaintiffs' expert had actually indicated that Goldman concealed "important information," such as realized loss, there might be a genuine dispute as to a material fact. However, unlike Plaintiffs' characterization of their expert's testimony, their expert actually stated that the remittance reports available to investors did show "realized loss" data — just that the realized loss was zero, as none of the delinquencies had resulted in a realized loss to investors by the date of the report. (Defs.' Reply Mem. at 5 (citing Croke Decl. Ex. 16 at 169:9-170:9).) Testimony from Defendants' expert also indicates that the remittance reports showed performance information showing delinquencies and losses. (Defs.' Reply Mem. at 5 (citing Lederer Decl. Ex. 4 at 109:9-110:2).)
On this point, Plaintiffs have not shown evidence, beyond mere conclusory allegations, that Defendants concealed investment risk. For example, Plaintiffs have not shown evidence that Defendants had information on realized loss that was different from that indicated on remittance reports but concealed from investors. See Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., 821 F.Supp.2d 616, 623 (S.D.N.Y.2011), aff'd 478 Fed.
Such a finding is consistent with the Court's reasoning in Dodona I. At the motion to dismiss phase, the Court found that because "Goldman's sudden — and prescient — shift to reducing subprime risk supports the inference that it possessed some unique insight; it is not unreasonable to infer that GS & Co's role as underwriter and the due diligence Goldman performed provided Defendants with material nonpublic information supporting that decision." Dodona I, 847 F.Supp.2d at 643. The Court noted, though, that it was "unclear to what degree the information Defendants allegedly gathered from due diligence was in fact nonpublic." Id. Now, armed with the benefit of significant discovery, Plaintiffs must point to some relevant evidence showing Defendants possessed and failed to disclose some material, non-public information. Despite such discovery, Plaintiffs have not pointed to any evidence of "`contemporaneous [due diligence] reports containing inconsistent information,' much less any reports containing material, non-public information about the subprime market or the ABX" for the ROs that Defendants issued or underwrote. (Defs.' Mem. at 8 n. 4. (quoting IKB Int'l S.A., 584 Fed.Appx. at 28).) Yet Plaintiffs still argue — despite being unable to point to any specific information obtained through discovery indicating that Goldman possessed nonpublic information about the performance of the ROs — that Defendants had "asymmetric information" about performance indicators and credit enhancements for the Hudson CDOs. (See Pls.' Opp. Mem. at 14.) Such unsupported statements constitute conclusory allegations or unsubstantiated speculation and do not show the existence of a genuine dispute of material fact. See In re Celestica Inc. Sec. Litig., 2014 WL 4160216, at *4.
Third, Plaintiffs argue that the Offering Circulars misleadingly stated that GSI would be the "initial Credit Protection Buyer," when Goldman actually intended for GSI to be a permanent counterparty. (See Pls.' Opp. Mem. at 11, 15. (emphasis added).) Plaintiffs claim that the term "initial credit protection buyer" hid that the Hudson CDOs were "a concealed proprietary trade rather than a legitimate, arm's length offering." (Pls.' Opp. Mem. at 16.) However, Goldman's Offering Circulars did disclose that GSI was the "sole Credit Protection Buyer" on the Hudson CDOs. Such a disclosure surely indicated to the Plaintiffs that a Goldman subsidiary stood to gain if there were an adverse credit event and a decrease in value of the securities. Yet, as the Court noted in Dodona I, such disclosure of GSI's role was "somewhat undermined, or at least downplayed, by statements elsewhere that GSI was the `initial' credit protection buyer, that the Hudson CDOs were `attractive relative value opportunities in the RMBS
The Court is not persuaded on the summary judgment record before it that such allegations are enough to save Plaintiffs from dismissal of their claims. "[T]he mere existence of a scintilla of evidence supporting the non-movant's case is also insufficient to defeat summary judgment." In re Celestica, 2014 WL 4160216, at *4 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
It is clear from the summary judgment record, as well as the parties' submissions, that Goldman did seek to reduce its RMBS exposure, and the Hudson CDOs were part of its strategy to do so. However, the Court held in Dodona I that Plaintiffs' fraud-based claims could not proceed on an omissions theory for failure to disclose such internal strategy. See id. at 646. Nor does implementing such a strategy necessarily suggest that the Hudson CDOs were set up to fail. The record shows no indication that Goldman possessed material nonpublic information regarding the ROs or the RMBS market more generally. Defendants certainly had sophisticated information about the RMBS market; but that information was public, and could have been determined (and likely was, in fact, known) by Plaintiffs, who include sophisticated hedge funds and investment banks well versed in these markets. Such knowledge does not imply that Defendants structured the Hudson CDOs with the foresight that the price of RMBS would soon plummet. Instead, the record shows only that Defendants sought to hedge and mitigate its own investment risk that Goldman faced from holding significant long positions on RMBS. Indeed, this is a strategy that plaintiff Dodona employed as well: holding both long and short positions on the underlying securities.
As such, the Court now finds that Defendants have satisfied their burden of showing no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Defendants concealed material nonpublic information as to investment risk of the Hudson CDOs, or whether Goldman structured the Hudson CDOs with the (undisclosed) knowledge and purpose that the value of the underlying ROs would substantially decrease. Plaintiffs have not provided specific evidence showing that a genuine issue for trial exists on this point — a showing that Plaintiffs would need to make to succeed on their fraudbased claims at trial. The Court noted at the motion to dismiss phase that "if the facts alleged were borne out at a trial, Goldman's conduct, viewed charitably, could be found not only reckless but bordering on cynical." Dodona I, 847 F.Supp.2d at 641. But even with the benefit of extensive discovery, Plaintiffs have not adduced sufficient evidence that could support those allegations at trial.
As the Court, based on the summary judgment record, is now persuaded that no genuine issue of fact remains as to whether Defendants made material omissions, and thus dismisses all of Plaintiffs' claims on that basis, the Court will not decide the other issues raised by Defendants in the Main Motion, or decide the Ostrem and Herrick Motion or the Certain Class Members Motion.
For the reasons set forth above, it is hereby
The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate the motions for summary judgment (Dkt. Nos. 189, 193, 197).