Dennis v. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Dennis v. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Opinion of the Court
*140Table of Contents
Background...142
I. Derivatives and the Money Market...142
II. The BBSW Rate "Set"...143
A. Prime Bank Bills...143
B. The Rate "Set"...144
III. BBSW-Based Derivatives...145
IV. The Parties...146
A. Plaintiffs...146
B. Defendants...148
V. The Amended Complaint...148
A. Antitrust Claims...149
B. CEA Claims...151 *141C. RICO Act Claims...152
D. State Law Claims...152
VI. Defendants' Motions...153
Discussion...154
I. Standing...154
A. Constitutional Standing...154
B. Standing to Represent Purported Class...156
II. Pleading Standard on Rule 12(b)(6) Motion...161
III. Antitrust Claims...161
A. Antitrust Standing...162
B. Plausible Antitrust Claims...168
C. Extraterritoriality...171
IV. CEA Claims...173
A. CEA Standing...173
B. Plausible CEA Claims...175
C. Extraterritoriality...180
V. RICO Act Claims...183
A. RICO Standing...183
B. Plausible RICO Violations...184
C. RICO Conspiracy...187
D. Extraterritoriality...188
VI. Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing...191
VII. Unjust Enrichment...192
VIII. Fraudulent Concealment...194
A. Antitrust Claims...194
B. CEA Claims...196
C. State Law Claims...196
IX. Personal Jurisdiction...196
A. Personal Jurisdiction Arising From Defendants' Contacts...197
B. Personal Jurisdiction Arising from Defendants' Consent...208
C Pendent Jurisdiction...210
D. Jurisdictional Discovery...211
Conclusion 212
This purported class action is the latest in a growing number of lawsuits accusing financial institutions of manipulating interest rates used as benchmarks for the pricing of various financial derivatives among other purposes. In this case, defendants - a collection of entities from fifteen major banks and two major brokerage firms - are accused of conspiring to manipulate the Bank Bill Swap Reference Rate ("BBSW"), a rate set at the relevant times in Australia but allegedly used widely in the United States and elsewhere in the world. All defendants
*142motions each are granted in part and denied in part.
Background
BBSW is a benchmark interest rate, somewhat similar in concept to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") in that it is used to price certain types of financial derivatives. Plaintiffs here, all of whom "engaged in U.S.-based transactions for BBSW-based derivatives" during the purported class period,
The following facts are alleged in the amended complaint, the truth of which the Court is bound to assume when considering a motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
I. Derivatives and the Money Market
In order to understand the claims in this case, it is helpful first to provide some background information on financial derivatives and BBSW.
A derivative is "a contract whose value is based on the performance of an underlying financial asset, index, or other investment."
Swaps come in various forms, one of which is an interest rate swap. An interest rate swap generally obligates each party to pay an amount equal to the amount of *143interest that would be payable on an agreed upon notional principal amount if that amount actually had been borrowed.
"Counterparty A and Counterparty B enter into a five-year swap with the following terms: Counterparty A agrees to pay Counterparty B an amount equal to 6 percent per annum on a notional principal of $20 million, and Counterparty B agrees to pay Counterparty A an amount equal to one-year LIBOR plus 1 percent per annum on the same notional principal amount. For simplicity, let us assume the counterparties exchange payments annually on December 31, beginning in 2017 and concluding in 2021. At the end of 2017, Counterparty A will pay Counterparty B $1,200,000 (i.e. , $20,000,000 × 6 percent). Let us assume further that on December 31, 2016, one-year LIBOR was 5.33 percent. At the end of 2017, then, Counterparty B will pay Counterparty A $1,266,000 (i.e. , $20,000,000 × (5.33 percent + 1 percent) )."14
Another type of swap is a foreign exchange ("FX") swap, in which "two counterparties agree to exchange streams of interest payments in different currencies for an agreed-upon period of time and to exchange principal amounts in different currencies at an agreed-upon exchange rate at maturity."
II. The BBSW Rate "Set"
A. Prime Bank Bills
Because BBSW rates are "intended to reflect the observed rate of interest paid on Prime Bank Bills actually traded in the Australian money market," it is necessary next to provide some background on Prime Bank Bills.
1. Bank Bills and Certificates of Deposit
Banks regularly borrow money on the money market by issuing "bank bills" and *144certificates of deposit ("CDs").
A bank bill is a bill of exchange that requires the issuing bank to pay a specified amount of money - the "face value" of the bill - on a certain maturity date. The number of days between the date on which a bank bill is issued and the date on which it matures is referred to as the "tenor" of the bank bill.
A CD is a document evidencing a deposit with the issuing bank for a certain amount of time. Upon maturity, the purchaser receives its deposit plus interest. CDs may be negotiable or nonnegotiable. A negotiable CD (an "NCD") can be sold by the depositor on the secondary market whereas a nonnegotiable CD generally must be held until maturity.
Issuing a bank bill or a CD is economically equivalent to borrowing money. Bank bills are sold at discounts to their face value. The issue price that the bank receives when it issues a bank bill is equivalent to the principal of the loan. Upon maturity, when the bank pays the face value to the purchaser of the bank bill, it effectively repays the loan plus interest, with the interest being equal to the difference between the face value and issue price.
2. AFMA and Prime Banks
"The Australian Financial Markets Association ('AFMA') is a trade association and the principal Australian financial markets industry group."
B. The Rate "Set"
As stated above, BBSW is "intended to reflect the observed rate of interest paid on Prime Bank Bills actually traded in the Australian money market."
Until September 27, 2013, BBSW was calculated on a daily basis using submissions from each of fourteen panel banks that, together, comprised the "BBSW Panel."
*145
Each bank on the BBSW Panel submitted to AFMA the observed "mid-rate" - that is, treating the discount on the issue price of a Prime Bank Bill as if it were an interest rate, the midpoint between the rates at which banks offered to buy and sell Prime Bank Bills - for Prime Bank Bills at each of six tenors traded between 9:55 am and 10:05 am (Sydney Time) (the "Fixing Window").
The banks derived these mid-rates with the help of trading brokers who facilitated Prime Bank Bill transactions between banks.
Upon receipt of the submissions from the banks on the BBSW Panel, AFMA would calculate BBSW for each tenor by ranking the submissions for Prime Bank Bills of each tenor, eliminating the highest and lowest submissions, and averaging the remaining rates. These averages - that is, the BBSW rates for each tenor - then would be published to financial data providers including Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg for global distribution.
III. BBSW-Based Derivatives
The Court turns next to a discussion of the six types of financial instruments referred to in the amended complaint that incorporate BBSW as a component of the price of the instrument ("BBSW-Based Derivatives").
• BBSW-Based Swaps : As discussed above, a swap is a derivative in which two parties exchange obligations to make a series of payments based on some underlying principal amount for some set period of time. In a BBSW-based swap, at least one of *146the parties' payment obligations references BBSW.38
• BBSW-Based Forward Rate Agreements : A forward rate agreement ("FRA") is an interest rate forward contract, also known as a single-period swap. In an FRA, the two parties agree to exchange amounts equal to the amount of interest that would be payable on the same notional principal amount, but at different would-be interest rates, on some agreed upon date in the future. In a BBSW-based FRA, at least one party is obligated to pay an amount equal to the would-be interest payment at a floating rate that is tied to BBSW.39
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange Australian Dollar Futures : A Chicago Mercantile Exchange ("CME") Australian dollar future is "an exchange-traded BBSW-based derivative that represents an agreement to buy ... or sell ... 100,000 Australian dollars in terms of U.S. dollars on some future date."40 "Prices of CME Australian dollar futures contracts are determined by a formula that incorporates BBSW as one of its terms" - that is, the contractual formula adjusts the price of the Australian dollars for immediate delivery "to account for ... the amount of interest earned on Australian dollar deposits over the duration of the agreement."41
• Australian Dollar FX Forwards & Swaps : An Australian dollar FX forward is another type of "agreement to buy or sell Australian dollars on some future date" and can be thought of as "the over-the-counter equivalent of a CME Australian dollar futures contract."42 These forwards are priced using the same formula that determines the value of CME Australian dollar futures contracts and thus incorporate BBSW as a component of their price. An Australian dollar FX swap is an FX swap using Australian dollars as one of the underlying currencies.43 As discussed above, an FX forward is one of the two components of an FX swap. An Australian dollar FX swap that involves an Australian dollar FX forward that in turn incorporates BBSW as a component of price thus will also be dependent at least to some extent on BBSW.
• 90-Day BAB Futures : A 90-day BAB futures contract is a standardized, exchange-traded contract in which one party agrees to buy from the other party a 90-day Prime Bank Bill with a face value of $1 million at a specified yield on a certain future date.44
IV. The Parties
A. Plaintiffs
There are five named plaintiffs in this case, each of whom or which "engaged in U.S.-based transactions for BBSW-Based Derivatives" during the class period. The amended complaint alleges the following:
*1471. Richard Dennis ("Dennis") is a natural person who resides in Florida. He entered into a large number of CME Australian dollar futures contracts, including on November 22, 2010, a day on which defendant National Australia Bank ("NAB") allegedly "was involved in manipulating BBSW artificially higher."
2. Sonterra Capital Master Fund, Ltd. ("Sonterra") was an investment fund with its principal place of business in New York.
• An FX swap on November 5, 2010, a day on which defendant Westpac allegedly engaged in manipulating one-month BBSW artificially lower,47
• An FX forward on June 3, 2011, a day on which defendant Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ("ANZ") allegedly manipulated BBSW artificially higher,48 and
• An FX swap on May 14, 2010, two days after defendant Morgan Stanley's involvement in the BBSW rate set was discussed among defendants NAB and Commonwealth Bank of Australia ("CBA").49
3. FrontPoint Asian Event Driven Fund, L.P., ("FrontPoint Event Driven") was an investment fund with its principal place of business in Greenwich, Connecticut.
• A swap governed by an ISDA Master Agreement in which Macquarie agreed to make payments to FrontPoint Event Driven equal to one-month BBSW on certain valuation dates, including on July 1 2010, the same day that defendant Westpac allegedly manipulated the 1-month BBSW lower, and
• A one-month BBSW swap with Macquarie on January 27, 2011, a day when CBA and NAB allegedly manipulated BBSW.53
The putative class of plaintiffs is defined as "[a]ll persons or entities that engaged in U.S.-based transactions in financial instruments *148that were priced, benchmarked, and/or settled based on BBSW at any time from at least January 1, 2003, through the date on which the effects of Defendants' unlawful conduct ceased."
B. Defendants
Defendants are horizontal competitors that deal in financial products that are priced, benchmarked, and/or settled by reference to a BBSW rate, including (1) twenty-five banking entities from fifteen different banks, including JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, RBS, UBS, ANZ, CBA, NAB, Westpac, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Lloyds, Macquarie, Royal Bank of Canada, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse, (2) two entities from ICAP, a UK-based brokerage firm, and (3) two entities from Tullett Prebon, another UK-based brokerage firm.
V. The Amended Complaint
Plaintiffs' allegations follow largely from the findings of a series of investigations by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("ASIC").
In mid-2016, ASIC initiated proceedings against defendants ANZ,
In its original statements of claim against ANZ, Westpac, and NAB, ASIC released a large collection of emails, phone *149calls, and electronic chats among traders from the banks and brokerage firms that ultimately were named as defendants in this case. Plaintiffs commenced this action on August 16, 2016 alleging that defendants used various means systematically to manipulate BBSW and seeking damages for alleged violations of the Sherman Act, the CEA, and the RICO Act and claims of unjust enrichment and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Plaintiffs quote directly from ASIC's disclosures throughout the amended complaint.
A. Antitrust Claims
Plaintiffs allege that defendants, in violation of the federal antitrust laws, "entered into a series of agreements designed to create profit or limit liabilities amongst themselves by coordinating the manipulation of BBSW and the prices of BBSW-Based Derivatives, by conspiring to, inter alia : (1) engage in manipulative money market transactions during the BBSW Fixing Window; (2) make false BBSW rate submissions that did not reflect actual transaction prices; (3) uneconomically buy or sell money market instruments at a loss to cause artificial derivatives prices; and (4) share proprietary BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives information."
The allegations concerning the manipulative money market transactions mentioned above merit some explanation. The amended complaint alleges that bank defendants, with the assistance of the broker defendants, rigged BBSW rates by engaging in uneconomic transactions during the Fixing Window to manipulate the supply of Prime Bank Bills in the market. In other words, defendants engaged in Prime Bank Bill transactions during the Fixing Window without regard to whether the transaction would be profitable for the bank but, rather, with the intention of driving BBSW in a direction that would generate profits from their positions in BBSW-Based Derivatives as a whole.
To that end, the bank defendants would calculate their net exposure to the various BBSW rates on a daily basis and then increase the supply of and demand for Prime Bank Bills in the market by selling or buying them in large numbers, respectively, during the Fixing Window.
According to the amended complaint, the bank defendants did not engage in this effort unilaterally. Rather, they conferred with one another ahead of these manipulative transactions, "aligning their interests and recruiting co-conspirators to trade in the same direction."
The amended complaint alleges that the broker defendants actively participated in the alleged conspiracy to manipulate BBSW by facilitating these manipulative trades for the bank defendants. Banks pre-authorized the broker defendants to trade the banks' caches of Prime Bank Bills until the interest rate landed at the banks' desired *151level.
The amended complaint alleges also that defendants used their positions in AFMA "to control the BBSW rule-making process, conceal complaints from other market participants, and perpetuate the BBSW methodology that they used to secretly manipulate BBSW."
B. CEA Claims
Plaintiffs allege also that defendants violated the CEA (1) as primary violators, (2) in their capacities as principals in respect of the manipulation committed by their "agents, representatives, and/or other persons acting for them in the scope of their employment,"
*152C. RICO Act Claims
Plaintiffs assert also substantive and conspiracy RICO violations. The RICO Act makes it illegal for "any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt"
The amended complaint alleges that "[d]efendants' collective association, including through their participation together (i) as members of the AFMA and its subcommittees; (ii) as BBSW Panel Banks; and (iii) acting as a trading bloc and engaging in secret collusive trades in the Prime Bank Bill market to manipulate BBSW, constitutes the RICO enterprise."
D. State Law Claims
Finally, plaintiffs assert two state law claims. First, they assert breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing against defendants Macquarie Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and UBS. They allege that the FrontPoint Plaintiffs "entered into binding and enforceable contracts with Defendants Macquarie Bank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and UBS in connection with transactions for BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives" and that "Sonterra entered into binding and enforceable contracts with Defendant Morgan Stanley in connection with transactions for BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives."
Finally, plaintiffs assert a claim of unjust enrichment against all defendants.
VI. Defendants' Motions
All defendants now move to dismiss the amended complaint pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Foreign Defendants move also to dismiss the amended complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2), and the Venue Defendants move to dismiss plaintiffs' antitrust claims pursuant to Rule 12(b)(3).
Defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim rests on alternative grounds. Defendants challenge plaintiffs' standing under Article III of the Constitution as well as under the Clayton Act, the CEA, and the RICO Act to bring each respective cause of action. In addition, they assert that the amended complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under either federal or state law. Finally, defendants argue that each federal cause of action should be dismissed as impermissibly extraterritorial and that all but the RICO claims should be dismissed as untimely.
The Foreign Defendants move also to dismiss each of plaintiffs' claims for lack of personal jurisdiction, and the Venue Defendants move to dismiss plaintiffs' antitrust claims for improper venue. The amended complaint alleges that the Foreign Defendants are subject to personal jurisdiction on a number of bases, including that (1) all Foreign Defendants are subject to general personal jurisdiction in New York, (2) all Foreign Defendants are subject to specific personal jurisdiction,
Discussion
I. Standing
A. Constitutional Standing
"To establish standing under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff must allege '(1) injury-in-fact , which is a concrete and particularized harm to a legally protected interest; (2) causation in the form of a fairly traceable connection between the asserted injury-in-fact and the alleged actions of the defendant; and (3) redressability , or a non-speculative likelihood that the injury can be remedied by the requested relief.' "
1. Injury-In-Fact
Injury-in-fact is a "low threshold" that "need not be capable of sustaining a valid cause of action."
"To successfully plead injury-in-fact, a plaintiff must only 'clearly ... allege facts demonstrating,' Warth v. Seldin ,422 U.S. 490 , 518,95 S.Ct. 2197 ,45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975) (quoted in Spokeo [Inc. v. Robins] , [--- U.S. ----, 136 S.Ct. [1540,] at 1547,194 L.Ed.2d 635 (2016) ] ), that she had a 'a legally protected interest in a manner that is concrete and particularized' and that a defendant 'inva[ded]' that interest. Bhatia v. Piedrahita ,756 F.3d 211 , 218 (2d Cir. 2014) (quoting Lujan , 504 U.S. at 560,112 S.Ct. 2130 ).... Unless an allegation of injury is 'so insubstantial, implausible, foreclosed by prior decisions of this Court, or otherwise completely devoid of merit as not to involve a federal controversy,' Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment ,523 U.S. 83 , 89,118 S.Ct. 1003 ,140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) (quoting Oneida Nation of N.Y. v. County of Oneida ,414 U.S. 661 , 666,94 S.Ct. 772 ,39 L.Ed.2d 73 (1974) ), the mere fact that it 'raises a federal question ... confers power [on a federal court] to decide that it has no merit, as well as to decide that it has.' Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. v. Northwestern Public Service Co. ,341 U.S. 246 , 249,71 S.Ct. 692 ,95 L.Ed. 912 (1951)."99
Plaintiffs Dennis, Sonterra, and FrontPoint Event Driven here allege that defendants manipulated BBSW on days when these plaintiffs transacted in BBSW-Based Derivatives, thereby impacting the price of and/or periodic payments due on *155such derivatives and causing these plaintiffs to be either overcharged or underpaid. This alleged injury readily meets the "low threshold" for injury-in-fact. The harm of "pa[ying] too much" or "receiv[ing] too little" is a "classic economic injury-in-fact."
Nor is the Court persuaded by defendants' argument that plaintiffs might just as easily have been benefitted by the alleged manipulation. This argument is premature at best. The mere "fact that an injury may be outweighed by other benefits, while often sufficient to defeat a claim for damages, does not negate standing."
Accordingly, Dennis, Sonterra and FrontPoint Event Driven each sufficiently has alleged injury-in-fact. In contrast, the amended complaint does not allege that either FrontPoint Financial Horizons Fund, L.P. or FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, L.P. engaged in any BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions on days when BBSW allegedly was manipulated. These two named plaintiffs therefore lack constitutional standing and their claims must be dismissed.
2. Fairly Traceable
Defendants next argue that the injuries of plaintiffs Dennis and Sonterra cannot fairly be traced to the alleged conspiracy because they have not alleged sufficiently that BBSW was a component of the prices of their CME Australian futures contracts and Australian dollar FX swaps and forwards.
But the amended complaint alleges that the "[p]rices of CME Australian dollar futures contracts are determined by a formula that incorporates BBSW as one of its terms."
Defendants' various arguments that a causal nexus between the alleged manipulation and each of plaintiffs' specific transactions is implausible fail as well.
Finally, the dates identified in the amended complaint in any event "do not purport to be the universe of defendants' communications and misconduct"
B. Standing to Represent Purported Class
Defendants argue also that plaintiffs "lack standing to assert claims regarding FRAs and BAB Futures because [p]laintiffs do not claim to have transacted in *157those products."
"[I]n a putative class action, a plaintiff has class standing if he plausibly alleges (1) that he personally has suffered some actual ... injury as a result of the putatively illegal conduct of the defendant, and (2) that such conduct implicates the same set of concerns as the conduct alleged to have caused injury to other members of the putative class by the same defendants."
In NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman Sachs & Co. ,
The Circuit first considered the hypothetical scenario of a claim brought by a purchaser of debt asserting that the relevant offering documents contained a misrepresentation about the issuing company's impending insolvency and that the same misrepresentation appeared in the offering documents for each of a series of debt offerings by the company. The court noted that such a claim "would raise a 'set of concerns' nearly identical to that of a purchaser from another offering: the misrepresentation would infect the debt issued from every offering in like manner, given that all of it is backed by the same company whose solvency has been called into question."
In a subsequent case involving residential mortgage-based securities ("RMBS"),
The Circuit held that the named plaintiff did not have standing to assert claims on behalf of the purported class members who invested in RMBS trusts in which the named plaintiff had not invested because the defendant's alleged misconduct - which included failure to notify certificate holders of the originator's breaches of the governing agreements, failure to force the originator to repurchase defaulted mortgage loans, and failure to ensure that the mortgage loans held by the trusts were correctly documented - had to be "proved loan-by-loan and trust-by-trust."
*159Plaintiffs here allege that defendants conspired to and did manipulate BBSW on a systematic basis, which manipulation resulted in artificial pricing of BBSW-Based Derivatives across the globe, including in the United States. The proof required for plaintiffs to prevail on their federal claims - that is, their claims under the Clayton Act, the CEA and the RICO Act - will be largely identical because, as described above, the allegations underlying these claims are that defendants engaged in manipulative Prime Bank Bill transactions and submitted false BBSW rates. That plaintiffs and the purported class members transacted in different derivatives is relevant only to the question of damages because plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that BBSW was a component of the prices of the derivatives in which they transacted as well as of the FRAs described in the amended complaint.
The remaining state law claims, however, stand apart from the federal claims. Unlike the federal claims, in respect of which a plaintiff's specific relationship with defendants is relevant only or substantially to damages, a plaintiff's connection to the defendants is central to the question of liability in the case of claims of breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unjust enrichment.
The promise of good faith and fair dealing is treated as an implied provision in every contract that "is breached when a party acts in a manner that, although not expressly forbidden by any contractual provision, would deprive the other party of the right to receive the benefits under their agreement."
The terms of contracts for BBSW-Based Derivatives that are traded over the counter - that is, BBSW-based swaps, BBSW-based FRAs, and Australian dollar FX forwards and swaps - are negotiated and customized to the particular investor. As the terms across these contracts vary, so too do the "obligation[s] that may be presumed to have been intended by the *160parties."
The analysis is somewhat different with respect to the exchange-traded BBSW-Based Derivatives - that is, CME Australian dollar futures and 90-day BAB futures - but the result is the same. The contract terms for a given type of exchange-traded future are almost entirely standardized. They vary only with respect to the maturity date and price of the derivative, and the prices in turn are determined by a set formula based in part either on a 90-day Prime Bank Bill or a BBSW rate.
Here, however, defendants challenge plaintiffs' class standing to represent purported class members who traded 90-day BAB futures. None of the named plaintiffs alleges that it traded 90-day BAB futures. Accordingly, plaintiffs' claims for breach of the implied covenant will not raise a "sufficiently similar set of concerns"
The analysis is similar with respect to plaintiffs' claims of unjust enrichment. In order to sustain an unjust enrichment claim under New York law, "[a] plaintiff must show 'that (1) the other party was enriched, (2) at that party's expense, and (3) that "it is against equity and good conscience to permit [the other party] to retain what is sought to be recovered.' " "
The Court concludes that plaintiffs do not have class standing to assert their state law claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing or unjust enrichment on behalf of absent plaintiffs who traded in BBSW-based FRAs or 90-day BAB futures. The contracts related to BBSW-based FRAs will differ across the holders of such contracts. And although the proof required for holders of 90-day BAB futures to prevail on claims for either breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing or unjust enrichment likely would be largely identical across such holders, none of the plaintiffs here falls into that group. Accordingly, plaintiffs have standing to assert their federal claims, but not their state law claims, on behalf of the purported class members who traded in BBSW-based FRAs and 90-day BAB futures.
II. Pleading Standard on Rule 12(b)(6) Motion
To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a plaintiff must allege "sufficient factual matter ... to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' "
To the extent a claim sounds in fraud, however, the complaint is subject to the heightened pleading standard of Rule 9(b) and "must state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud."
III. Antitrust Claims
Plaintiffs' first cause of action is a claim against all defendants under Section 4 of the Clayton Act asserting a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which provides, in relevant part:
*162"Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal."147
Section 4 of the Clayton Act, which sets forth a private right of action to bring a Sherman Act claim for damages, provides, in relevant part:
"[A]ny person who shall be injured in his business or property by reason of anything forbidden in the antitrust laws may sue therefor in any district court of the United States in the district in which the defendant resides or is found or has an agent, without respect to the amount in controversy, and shall recover threefold the damages by him sustained, and the cost of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee."148
A. Antitrust Standing
Defendants first challenge plaintiffs' ability to bring their federal antitrust claims under the concept of "antitrust standing" - that is whether plaintiffs have pled "enough facts to make it plausible that they did indeed suffer the sort of injury that would entitle them to relief"
"It is a well-established principle that, while the United States is authorized to sue anyone violating the federal antitrust laws, a private plaintiff must demonstrate 'standing.' "
(1) "[H]ave [plaintiffs] suffered antitrust injury?"
(2) "[A]re [plaintiffs] efficient enforcers of the antitrust laws?"153
1. Antitrust Injury
"Congress did not intend the antitrust laws to provide a remedy in damages for all injuries that might conceivably be traced to an antitrust violation."
This inquiry involves three steps:
"[F]irst the plaintiff must 'identify the practice complained of and the reasons such a practice is or might be anticompetitive'; then the court must 'identify the actual injury the plaintiff alleges' by 'look[ing] to the ways in which the plaintiff claims it is in a worse position as a consequence of defendant's conduct'; and finally, the court must 'compare the anticompetitive effect of the specific practice at issue to the actual injury the plaintiff alleges.' "158
As to the first question, plaintiffs here assert that defendants, in coordination with one another, manipulated BBSW and the prices of BBSW-Based Derivatives by conspiring to engage in manipulative and uneconomic money market transactions during the Fixing Window, by sharing proprietary BBSW-Based Derivative information with one another, and by making false BBSW rate submissions.
As to the second, plaintiffs allege that they were "overcharged and underpaid in their BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives transactions" and were "deprived of the ability to accurately price BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives entered into during the Class Period and to accurately determine the settlement value of BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives by reference to an accurate BBSW."
The third query is resolved quickly in favor of plaintiffs. "Generally, when consumers, because of a conspiracy, must pay prices that no longer reflect ordinary market conditions, they suffer 'injury of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent and that flows from that which makes defendants' acts unlawful.' "
The Second Circuit's decision in Gelboim is instructive. The Circuit there concluded that plaintiffs - consumers in the market for various LIBOR-based derivatives - sufficiently alleged antitrust injury when they claimed that they had received lower rates of return on their derivatives as a result of defendants' collusion to depress LIBOR.
Unlike the complaint in Gelboim , the allegations in the amended complaint here do not assert that BBSW was consistently *164moved in the same direction by defendants. But this is of no import with respect to the issue of antitrust standing. Plaintiffs allege that defendants each made a regular practice of determining the optimal BBSW rate that would maximize their profits on BBSW-Based Derivatives and that they then worked together to move BBSW to that spot. This alleged coordinated effort is no less an example of horizontal price fixing than the alleged LIBOR scheme in Gelboim . Plaintiffs Dennis, Sonterra, and FrontPoint Event Driven each has alleged that it was overcharged and underpaid on its BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions as a result of a per se violation of the Sherman Act. They have plausibly alleged antitrust injury.
2. Efficient Enforcers
The Court now turns to consider whether plaintiffs Dennis, Sonterra, and FrontPoint Event Driven would be efficient enforcers of the antitrust laws.
In the Second Circuit:
"The efficient enforcer inquiry turns on: (1) whether the violation was a direct or remote cause of the injury; (2) whether there is an identifiable class of other persons whose self-interest would normally lead them to sue for the violation; (3) whether the injury was speculative; and (4) whether there is a risk that other plaintiffs would be entitled to recover duplicative damages or that damages would be difficult to apportion among possible victims of the antitrust injury."166
(a) Causation
The first factor to consider is the " 'directness or indirectness of the asserted injury,' which requires evaluation of the 'chain of causation' linking [plaintiffs'] asserted injury and the Banks' alleged price-fixing."
Plaintiffs' claims, with rare exceptions, are different from the typical price fixing case in which defendants are sellers that collectively agree on an input to the price and plaintiffs are buyers from one or members of the conspiracy. The amended complaint, for the most part, does not allege that plaintiffs transacted directly with defendants. This implicates the concept of umbrella standing - which typically is relevant "when a cartel controls only part of a market" and a plaintiffconsumer that dealt only with a non-cartel member "alleges that he sustained injury by virtue of the cartel's raising of prices in the market as a whole."
The Second Circuit considered umbrella standing in Gelboim , stating, in relevant part:
"At first glance, here there appears to be no difference in the injury alleged by those who dealt in LIBOR-denominated instruments, whether their transactions were conducted directly or indirectly with the Banks. At the same time, however, if the Banks control only a small percentage of the ultimate identified market, this case may raise the ... concern of damages disproportionate to wrongdoing .... Requiring the Banks to pay treble damages to every plaintiff who ended up on the wrong side of an independent LIBOR-denominated derivative swap would, if appellants' allegations were proved at trial, not only bankrupt 16 of the world's most important financial institutions, but also vastly *165extend the potential scope of antitrust liability in myriad markets where derivative instruments have proliferated."169
The Court is not persuaded that concerns related to umbrella standing need bear on this case. The amended complaint does not allege that a group of conspirators, without controlling the entire market for a commodity, fixed prices for that commodity. In those circumstances, the question of causation is whether the conspirators that did not transact directly with a plaintiff nonetheless affected the price of the commodity in which the plaintiff transacted. In contrast, the conspiracy alleged here involves essentially all of the entities that contribute to setting BBSW and asserts that these banks and brokers affected the price of all derivatives priced or benchmarked by reference to BBSW.
Plaintiffs allege that they engaged in transactions for such derivatives and that their returns were lower because of defendants' anticompetitive conduct. The Court has rejected already defendants' arguments that plaintiffs have failed to allege a plausible link between BBSW and the derivatives in which plaintiffs transacted. Nor do plaintiffs need to allege plausibly that their losses were not offset by gains on other BBSW-linked trades.
(b) More Direct Victims
The second factor to be considered in the efficient enforcer analysis is "the 'existence of more direct victims of the alleged conspiracy.' "
Concerns with respect to indirect purchasers prevailed in Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois .
The indirect purchaser doctrine does not present the same concerns in this case. This is not a case of a fixed price commodity or even a fixed price component of a commodity being passed through a distribution chain to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs have not indirectly borne the effects of the alleged conspiracy. Nor is Illinois Brick properly read to permit antitrust standing only among plaintiffs in direct privity with defendants.
Indeed, who would be a victim more direct than these plaintiffs to bring antitrust claims alleging a conspiracy to fix BBSW? Defendants allegedly manipulated BBSW in order to impact the prices of, and thereby increase their returns on, BBSW-Based Derivatives. Consumers in the BBSW-Based Derivatives market are the most natural and direct victims of the alleged conspiracy. This factor, accordingly, weighs in plaintiffs' favor.
(c) Speculative Damages
The third factor is "the extent to which appellants' damages claim is 'highly speculative.' "
But this misstates the principles governing damages in private antitrust litigation. Although it is true that "even where the defendant by his own wrong has prevented a more precise computation, the jury may not render a verdict based on speculation or guesswork,"
The Second Circuit, considering this third factor in Gelboim , echoed the Supreme Court, stating, "some degree of uncertainty stems from the nature of antitrust law."
"The disputed transactions were done at rates that were negotiated, notwithstanding that the negotiated component was the increment above LIBOR. And the market for money is worldwide, with competitors offering various increments above LIBOR, or rates pegged to other benchmarks, or rates set without reference to any benchmark at all."188
The question for courts to consider, it held, was "whether the damages would necessarily be highly speculative."
This Court concludes that standing here is not defeated by the risk of speculative damages. Plaintiffs have alleged sufficiently that the derivatives transactions in which they engaged depended on BBSW and that defendants' conduct altered the prices of BBSW-Based Derivatives. Although the damages calculations in this case may indeed be complex, it is possible, as plaintiffs repeatedly allege, to calculate one's exposure to changes in BBSW based on one's BBSW-Based Derivative positions. As another judge in this district reasoned in a prior benchmark rate case, "because exogenous factors affect price movements in most antitrust cases, and because the existence of such factors does not alone defeat standing, questions regarding the extent of Plaintiffs' injuries can best be resolved at a later stage."
(d) Duplicate Recovery and Complex Damages Apportionment
The final factor in the efficient enforcer analysis is "the importance of avoiding 'either the risk of duplicate recoveries on the one hand, or the danger of complex apportionment of damages on the other.' "
Defendants raise no challenge to plaintiffs' antitrust standing on this basis and the Court finds no reason to do so sua sponte . As a practical matter, the scale of the investigations into various of the defendants by ASIC, as of the date of this opinion, is nowhere close to that of the ongoing proceedings and investigations related to the alleged manipulation of LIBOR.
In the circumstances, the Court concludes that the efficient enforcer factors, taken together, weigh in plaintiffs' favor. Accordingly, plaintiffs Dennis, Sonterra, and FrontPoint Event Driven have standing to pursue their federal antitrust claims against defendants.
B. Plausible Antitrust Claims
To avoid dismissal, plaintiffs must allege an antitrust violation stemming from defendants' transgression of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which provides that "[e]very contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal."
1. Pleading Standard
To state a plausible claim for conspiracy under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, a complaint must include "enough factual matter (taken as true) to suggest that an agreement was made."
"[A]n allegation of parallel conduct and a bare assertion of conspiracy will not suffice. Without more, parallel conduct does not suggest conspiracy, and a conclusory allegation of agreement at some unidentified *169point does not supply facts adequate to show illegality. Hence, when allegations of parallel conduct are set out in order to make a § 1 claim, they must be placed in a context that raises a suggestion of a preceding agreement, not merely parallel conduct that could just as well be independent action."197
That said, allegations of parallel conduct need not be so robust that the only plausible explanation for defendants' conduct is an agreement. "[T]he plaintiff need not show that its allegations suggesting an agreement are more likely than not true or that they rule out the possibility of independent action, as would be required at later litigation stages such as a defense motion for summary judgment or a trial."
"The choice between or among plausible inferences or scenarios is one for the factfinder. The choice between two plausible inferences that may be drawn from factual allegations is not a choice to be made by the court on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Fact-specific questions cannot be resolved on the pleadings. A court ruling on such a motion may not properly dismiss a complaint that states a plausible version of the events merely because the court finds a different version more plausible."200
There are two ways that an antitrust plaintiff may plead facts sufficient to support the inference that a conspiracy actually existed. "First, a plaintiff may, of course, assert direct evidence that the defendants entered into an agreement in violation of the antitrust laws."
*1702. Application
Plaintiffs here allege that defendants - "horizontal competitors" in the market for financial products - undertook collective action to manipulate BBSW in order to influence the prices of, and therefore the returns on, derivatives the fair market value of which was allegedly linked to BBSW. Plaintiffs, in other words, allege a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy - a per se violation of the federal antitrust laws.
The Court concludes that the amended complaint alleges "interdependent conduct, accompanied by circumstantial evidence and plus factors"
In particular, the amended complaint alleges that defendants each engaged in noneconomic transactions of Prime Bank Bills to push the prices of the bills up or down, thereby pushing BBSW submissions in the opposite direction. It is alleged also that defendants made false BBSW rate submissions to AFMA and used their positions on the various AFMA committees to maintain the status quo and, hence, their ability to manipulate BBSW. And all of this conduct allegedly was undertaken with a common motive among defendants - that is "increased profits" on defendants' BBSW-Based Derivatives positions.
Defendants argue that this case is distinguishable from Gelboim in that the defendants there allegedly conspired to move LIBOR in the same direction (down). But it is not necessary for defendants' interests to be aligned at all times to share a common motive. The allegations create a plausible claim that defendants conspired to rig the process of setting the BBSW rate such that, over time, each would benefit by realizing profits on their respective derivative positions.
*171In addition, the amended complaint contains extensive allegations of inter-firm communications and cooperative efforts among defendants - including the sharing of information with one another about their respective exposures to BBSW, the strategic trading of Prime Bank Bills ahead of the Fixing Window to enable one another to flood the market and artificially raise BBSW, and, in the case of the broker defendants, the facilitation of various noneconomic transactions.
These allegations create a plausible claim that defendants conspired to rig the process of setting BBSW such that, over time, each would benefit by realizing profits on their respective derivative positions. The machinery of the conspiracy was such that, at least on certain days, there was agreement among at least some defendants artificially to drive BBSW higher or lower.
C. Extraterritoriality
Defendants next assert that plaintiffs' antitrust claims are impermissibly extraterritorial under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982 ("FTAIA"), which provides, in relevant part, that antitrust actions may not be maintained with respect to:
"[C]onduct involving trade or commerce ... with foreign nations unless-(1) such conduct has a direct, substantial and reasonably foreseeable effect-(A) on trade or commerce which is not trade or commerce with foreign nations, or on import trade or import commerce with foreign nations; or (B) on export trade or export commerce with foreign nations, of a person engaged in such trade or commerce in the United States; and (2) such effect gives rise to a claim under *172the provisions of sections 1 to 7 of this title, other than this section."213
In determining whether plaintiffs allege an impermissibly extraterritorial application of the federal antitrust laws, the Court considers two questions: First, "does the price-fixing activity constitute conduct involving trade or commerce ... with foreign nations?"
Defendants challenge the antitrust claims in the amended complaint on the basis that the conduct alleged does not fall into the "domestic-injury exception." This exception "applies (and makes the Sherman Act nonetheless applicable) where the conduct (1) has a 'direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect' on domestic commerce, and (2) 'such effect gives rise to a [Sherman Act] claim.' "
1. Direct, Substantial and Reasonably Foreseeable Effect
Defendants argue that "all of the purported manipulative conduct occurred in Australia" and that the amended complaint suggests merely a ripple effect on domestic commerce.
Plaintiffs plead that defendants manipulated BBSW on a regular basis in order to impact the prices of and increase profits on BBSW-Based Derivatives. They plead also that substantial quantities of BBSW-Based Derivatives were sold in the United States.
2. Effect Gives Rise to a Claim
This second prong of the analysis pertains to the causal connection between the alleged conduct and injury. For the domestic-injury exception to apply, "the domestic effect" of defendants' alleged conduct "must proximately cause the plaintiff's injury."
*173The alleged effect of defendants' conduct is the manipulation of prices of BBSW-Based Derivatives. Plaintiffs' alleged injury is that they were overcharged and underpaid on the BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions in which they engaged as a result of defendants' conduct. The amended complaint sufficiently alleges that this injury was reasonably foreseeable from the alleged effect of defendants' conduct and therefore gave rise to their antitrust claim.
IV. CEA Claims
Plaintiffs assert three CEA claims against each defendant.
Their first is that all defendants are liable as principals under Section 6(c) of the CEA, which, in relevant part, makes it unlawful to:
"[M]anipulate or attempt to manipulate the price of any swap, or of any commodity in interstate commerce, or for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity."223
Section 22 establishes a private right of action for violations of Section 6(c). It provides, in relevant part:
"Any person ... who violates this chapter or who willfully aids, abets, counsels, induces, or procures the commission of a violation of this chapter shall be liable for actual damages resulting from one or more of the transactions referred to in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of this paragraph and caused by such violation to any other person ... - (D) "who purchased or sold [any contract of sale of any commodity for future delivery (or option on such contract or any commodity) ] or swap if the violation constitutes ... a manipulation of the price of any such contract or swap or the price of the commodity underlying such contract or swap."224
Plaintiffs allege also principal-agent liability
A. CEA Standing
1. FrontPoint Plaintiffs and Sonterra
Defendants argue that Sonterra and the FrontPoint Plaintiffs lack standing under the CEA on the basis that the pre-Dodd Frank CEA governs this case, not the current version of the statute.
*174The CEA was amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which became effective on July 21, 2011.
Even if the pre-Dodd Frank version of the CEA excluded such swaps and forwards, the amendments to the CEA enacted by Dodd Frank became effective before the changes AFMA made to the BBSW rate set process, which occurred just over two years later in September 2013. Accordingly, it is unclear whether all of the transactions allegedly entered into by the FrontPoint Plaintiffs and Sonterra would fall under the pre-Dodd Frank version of the CEA. Nonetheless, plaintiffs have waived their CEA claims in respect of BBSW-Based Derivatives other than CME Australian dollar futures contracts - the derivatives in which Dennis transacted.
2. Dennis
In order to assert a CEA claim, a private plaintiff must meet the requirements of Section 22.
*175In order to plead actual injury, Dennis was obliged to allege plausibly that (1) he "transacted in at least one commodity contract at a price that was lower or higher than it otherwise would have been absent the defendant's manipulations," and (2) "the manipulated prices were to [his] detriment."
Defendants argue that Dennis fails to meet the requirements of Section 22 because he has not pled that defendants' alleged manipulations affected either the price of his CME futures contracts or the price of a commodity underlying his CME futures contracts.
Dennis alleges further that he purchased and sold these derivatives at artificial prices caused by defendants' manipulative conduct. For example, Dennis alleges that he had a net short position of one CME Australian dollar futures contract on November 22, 2010. On that day, defendant NAB allegedly was involved in manipulating BBSW artificially higher, causing Dennis to suffer a $170 net loss on his CME Australian dollar futures position.
B. Plausible CEA Claims on Behalf of Dennis
That leaves for consideration the plausibility of Dennis' CEA claims alone.
Defendants argue that Dennis has failed to state a CEA claim for price manipulation. "The CEA prohibits manipulation of the price of any commodity or commodity future."
1. Pleading Standard
As an initial matter, the Court concludes, and Dennis does not dispute, that his CEA claims sound in fraud.
As noted earlier, a complaint subject to Rule 9(b) must "state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake."
As to scienter , a plaintiff must show, at a minimum, that the defendant or defendants "acted (or failed to act) with the purpose or conscious object of causing or affecting a price or price trend in the market that did not reflect the legitimate forces of supply and demand."
2. Liability
As noted above, plaintiffs first assert that all defendants are liable as principals - that is, that defendants themselves intentionally manipulated or caused to be manipulated the price of Dennis' CME Australian dollar futures by manipulating the BBSW rate set.
Plaintiffs assert also principal-agent and aiding and abetting liability against each of the defendants.
" '[A] claim for principal-agent liability requires that the agent was acting in the capacity of an agent when he or she committed the unlawful acts and that the agent's actions were within the scope of his or her employment.' "
To be found liable for aiding and abetting, on the other hand, a defendant must "in some sort associate himself with the venture" - that is, "that he participate in it as in something that he wishes to bring about, that he seek by his action to make it succeed."
(1) Bank Defendants
Dennis here makes extensive allegations as to the "nature, purpose, and effect" of the alleged fraudulent conduct - each defendant submitted false BBSW rates and engaged in uneconomic transactions to artificially increase or decrease BBSW, thereby increasing their respective profits on BBSW-Based Derivatives. Moreover, the amended complaint alleges motive and opportunity as to each defendant. The banks' common motive allegedly was to maximize their profits on their global *178BBSW-Based Derivatives positions, and each bank, by virtue of participating in Prime Bank Bill transactions had the opportunity to manipulate BBSW, regardless of whether the bank was on the BBSW Panel.
Many of the allegations in the amended complaint, however, attribute conduct and motivation to defendants as a group rather than to each of the twenty-nine named defendants.
The amended complaint in this case makes detailed allegations that defendants ANZ,
In contrast, the amended complaint makes either no or minimal mention *179of the remaining defendants - that is, the entities from the Royal Bank of Canada, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds, Macquarie, and Morgan Stanley. As to the entities from these five banks, Dennis' CEA claims will be dismissed.
(2) Broker Defendants
The allegations against the broker defendants are more limited. Both ICAP
In In re Amaranth Natural Gas Commodities Litigation ,
The Circuit there dismissed the CEA claim against J.P. Futures, concluding that the allegations that J.P. Futures had aided and abetted Amaranth in manipulating natural gas derivative prices were insufficient.
The amended complaint in this case, as it applies to the broker defendants, suffers from similar deficiencies. Although the brokers are alleged to have helped facilitate the bank defendants' manipulative trades in Prime Bank Bills, the amended complaint does not plead facts suggesting that the brokers specifically intended to manipulate BBSW rates. Indeed, the allegations do not assert anything other than the routine provision of brokerage services against either ICAP or Tullett Prebon. The amended complaint therefore fails to state a claim for liability as either a principal or an aider and abettor under the CEA against the broker defendants.
C. Extraterritoriality
"It is a longstanding principle of American law that legislation of Congress, unless a contrary intent appears, is meant to apply only within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States."
The Supreme Court has articulated "a two-step framework" to analyze the issue of extraterritoriality:
"At the first step, we ask whether the presumption against extraterritoriality has been rebutted - that is, whether the statute gives a clear, affirmative indication that it applies extraterritorially. We must ask this question regardless of whether the statute in question regulates conduct, affords relief, or merely confers jurisdiction. If the statute is not extraterritorial, then at the second step we determine whether the case involves a domestic application of the statute, and we do this by looking to the statute's 'focus.' If the conduct relevant to the statute's focus occurred in the United States, then the case involves a permissible domestic application even if other conduct occurred abroad; but if the conduct relevant to the focus occurred in a foreign country, then the case involves an impermissible extraterritorial application regardless of any other conduct that occurred in U.S. territory."280
1. Presumption Against Extraterritoriality
"The CEA as a whole ... is silent as to extraterritorial reach."
2. Domestic Application
In Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. ,
The Second Circuit has extended both Morrison and Absolute Activist to the CEA, concluding that " Morrison's domestic transaction test in effect decides the territorial reach of CEA § 22"
In this case, the BBSW-Based Derivatives in which Dennis transacted were traded on a domestic exchange - the CME. The relevant inquiry is whether Dennis thus has alleged sufficiently that his transactions in CME Australian dollar futures contracts occurred in the United States. The answer unmistakably is yes. But this is not the end of the inquiry.
In Parkcentral Global Hub Ltd. v. Porsche Automobile Holdings SE ,
Setting aside the open question of whether Parkcentral applies to claims brought under the CEA, the reasoning in that case weighs in favor of sustaining Dennis' CEA claims. Although the conduct alleged here largely occurred in Australia and was intended to affect a foreign benchmark interest rate, the amended complaint alleges that defendants engaged in the alleged manipulation in order to increase their returns on derivatives linked to BBSW. The conduct necessarily was intended to reach BBSW-Based Derivatives worldwide, including in the United States. In the Court's view, this distinguishes Parkcentral from this case. The defendants in Parkcentral allegedly engaged in fraud "with respect to stock in a German company traded only on exchanges in Europe" and even if the company's false statements had "been intended to deceive investors worldwide," the alleged fraud was effectuated in order to permit the take over of one foreign company by another.
*183V. RICO Act Claims
Plaintiffs assert two RICO counts against all defendants: a substantive RICO violation predicated on a pattern of wire fraud and a conspiracy to violate the RICO Act.
"[F]or any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt."
It is unlawful also "for any person to conspire to violate [
"Racketeering activity" includes violations of the wire fraud statute,
"[H]aving devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, [to] transmit[ ] or cause[ ] to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice."303
An "enterprise" is defined as "any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity."
A. RICO Standing
A civil remedy under RICO is available to private plaintiffs who are "injured in [their] business or property by reason of a violation of [
Defendants argue only that "[t]he analysis for RICO standing mirrors that for antitrust standing ... and [that] Plaintiffs' alleged injuries here are too indirect and speculative to support RICO standing for the same reasons that their alleged injuries fail to support antitrust standing."
*184
While plaintiffs Dennis, Sonterra, and FrontPoint Event Driven point to specific transactions in which they paid too much or received too little as a result of defendants' alleged misconduct, neither FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, L.P. nor FrontPoint Financial Horizons Fund, L.P. do so. Accordingly, plaintiffs Dennis, Sonterra, and FrontPoint Event Driven - whose alleged injuries were a foreseeable consequence of defendants' alleged RICO violations - have standing to bring their RICO claims. The RICO claims of the other plaintiffs will be dismissed.
B. Plausible RICO Violations
To state a claim for a violation of RICO, a complaint must allege that the defendant violated Section 1962 - that is, it must allege: "(1) that the defendant (2) through the commission of two or more acts (3) constituting a 'pattern' (4) of 'racketeering activity' (5) directly or indirectly invests in, or maintains an interest in, or participates in (6) an 'enterprise' (7) the activities of which affect interstate or foreign commerce."
1. Enterprise
"[A]n association-in-fact enterprise is simply a continuing unit that functions with a common purpose."
Defendants assert that the amended complaint fails to show that each of the defendants shared a common purpose to engage in fraud. Defendants argue also that amended complaint fails to show that the defendants worked together to achieve the fraudulent purpose and that each defendant knowingly participated in the such fraud with the requisite intent to *185harm.
Each of the three structural requirements for an association-in-fact are met. The amended complaint alleges that "defendants' collective association ... acting as a trading bloc and engaging in secret collusive trades in the Prime Bank Bill market to manipulate BBSW" constituted a RICO enterprise.
The amended complaint, which alleges that defendants shared private information with one another, including their plans to drive BBSW rates in one direction or the other, and assisted one another in transacting large numbers of Prime Bank Bills, states a plausible claim that defendants actively participated in the alleged scheme to manipulate BBSW with the intention of profiting on their BBSW positions at the expense of unwitting counterparties. The amended complaint thus sufficiently alleges that defendants formed a RICO enterprise.
2. Pattern of Wire Fraud
Defendants challenge plaintiffs' RICO claims on the additional basis that plaintiffs fail to allege a pattern of racketeering.
The wire fraud statute prohibits any use of interstate wires in furtherance of any fraudulent scheme. There are three elements of a wire fraud violation: "(1) a scheme to defraud, (2) money or property as the object of the scheme, and (3) use of ... wires to further the scheme."
Defendants argue that plaintiffs' RICO claims must be dismissed because they are grounded entirely on generalized allegations that each defendant engaged in acts of wire fraud in furtherance of the conspiracy. The Second Circuit has stated that generally in the RICO context, where mail or wire fraud are the alleged predicate acts, a "complaint must adequately specify the statements it claims were false or misleading, give particulars as to the respect in which plaintiff contends the statements were fraudulent, state when and where the statements were made, and identify those *186responsible for the statements."
"Courts in the Second Circuit have applied a different standard in cases where '[a] plaintiff claims that ... mails or wires were simply used in furtherance of a master plan to defraud,' but does not allege that 'the communications [themselves] ... contained false or misleading information.' In such cases, including 'complex civil RICO actions involving multiple defendants, Rule 9(b) does not require that the temporal or geographic particulars of each mailing or wire transmission made in furtherance of the fraudulent scheme be stated with particularity.' Instead, 'Rule 9(b) requires only that the plaintiff delineate with adequate particularity in the body of the complaint, the specific circumstances constituting the overall fraudulent scheme.' "320
Here, the amended complaint alleges that each defendant conspired to "engag[e] in secret collusive trades in the Prime Bank Bill market to manipulate BBSW" and distort returns on BBSW-Based Derivatives.
These allegations, however, are largely generalized to all defendants and to that extent are insufficient to meet the pleading standard. Although the amended complaint need not list every single allegedly fraudulent use of interstate wires involved in the overall scheme, it nonetheless is necessary to "inform each defendant of the nature of his alleged participation in the fraud."
*187As discussed above, the amended complaint sets forth detailed allegations that traders at ANZ, Westpac, NAB, HSBC, CBA, and Credit Suisse bought and sold large numbers of Prime Bank Bills during the Fixing Window in order to move BBSW in a profitable direction and that traders at UBS, RBS, and BNP Paribas who were in charge of submitting BBSW mid-rates to AFMA solicited rate submission requests from their colleagues who traded in BBSW-Based Derivatives. Although the instances of alleged manipulative transactions and submissions of false BBSW rates are not alleged in great detail, these allegations serve at least to inform the defendant entities from these banks of the "nature of [their] alleged participation in the fraud." As to these defendants, the amended complaint has alleged racketeering activity sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. As to the remaining bank defendants - that is, the defendant entities from the Royal Bank of Canada, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds, Macquarie, and Morgan Stanley - plaintiffs' RICO claims are dismissed. Similarly, although ICAP and Tullett Prebon are alleged to have facilitated large transactions in Prime Bank Bills for the bank defendants during the Fixing Window and provided information about the Prime Bank Bill market in exchange for large commission fees, there are no well-pled factual allegations in the amended complaint that either entity acted with specific intent to engage in the alleged fraudulent scheme.
Accordingly, the substantive RICO cause of action is sustained against the defendant entities from ANZ, Westpac, NAB, HSBC, CBA, Credit Suisse, UBS, RBS, and BNP Paribas. Plaintiffs' substantive RICO claims will be dismissed as to the remaining defendants.
C. RICO Conspiracy
Defendants next argue that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim of a RICO conspiracy because the amended complaint does not allege a conscious agreement among defendants to violate RICO.
"The core of a RICO conspiracy is an agreement to commit predicate acts, and a RICO civil conspiracy complaint must specifically allege such an agreement."
"[M]ust set forth specific facts tending to show that each of the defendants entered into an agreement to conduct the affairs of a particular, identified enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity - not simply that each defendant committed two or more acts that would qualify as predicate acts, without regard to whether those acts were committed in furtherance of the activity of the enterprise."326
Defendants rely largely on Elsevier Inc. v. W.H.P.R., Inc. ,
D. Extraterritoriality
Finally, defendants assert that plaintiffs' RICO claims should be dismissed as impermissibly extraterritorial. The Court proceeds through the two-step inquiry set forth in Morrison .
1. Presumption Against Extraterritoriality
In RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community ,
2. Domestic Application
Whether plaintiffs have alleged a domestic RICO claim presents a close question. The Second Circuit has not "decide[d] precisely how to draw the line between domestic and extraterritorial applications of the wire fraud statute."
"[S]imply alleging that some domestic conduct occurred cannot support a claim of domestic application. 'It is a rare case of prohibited extraterritorial application that lacks all contact with the territory of the United States.' [ Morrison , 561 U.S. at 266,130 S.Ct. 2869 (emphasis in the original).] The slim contacts with the United States alleged by Norex are insufficient to support extraterritorial application of the RICO statute."338
Defendants here assert that the amended complaint fails to plead a domestic RICO claim because it "lacks any specific allegations concerning activities in (or directed at) the U.S."
As discussed above, however, plaintiffs' RICO claims in significant part are not pled with sufficient particularity. Indeed, plaintiffs' allegations of domestic conduct are entirely generalized. To the extent that plaintiffs assert well-pled factual allegations in support of their RICO claims, the allegations consist solely of activity that took place in Australia.
This Court considered the extraterritoriality question in Chevron Corporation v. Donziger .
In CGC Holding , the district court had rejected the contention that a RICO claim was impermissibly extraterritorial simply because "some of the participants in the enterprise reside[d] outside the United States."
As this Court concluded in Chevron , the approach taken in CGC Holding appeals because it "afford[s] a remedy to a U.S. plaintiff who claims injury caused by domestic acts of racketeering activity without regard to the nationality or foreign character of the defendants or the enterprise," is "consistent with the Supreme Court's and [the Second] Circuit's repeated recognition that 'the heart of any RICO complaint is the allegation of a pattern of racketeering,' " and seems to be "consistent with Congressional intent, which included protecting American victims at least against injury caused by the conduct of the affairs of enterprises through patterns of racketeering activity that occur in this country."
This focus on the alleged rackteering activity, rather than the location of the enterprise, has been endorsed in the Second Circuit which, in Petroleos Mexicanos v. SK Engineering and Construction Company,
In this case, the conduct underlying the alleged scheme, including the facilitation of *191manipulative transactions and submission of false BBSW rates, took place entirely outside of the United States. It perhaps is not unexpected that several courts in this district have dismissed RICO claims in other benchmark rate manipulation cases alleging nearly identical domestic conduct.
Respectfully, this Court parts with those cases. Unlike in Petroleos , in which there were no allegations that the scheme was directed to or from the United States, the ultimate goal of the scheme alleged here - that is, affecting the prices of and returns on BBSW-Based Derivatives - necessarily implicated the worldwide market for such derivatives. Plaintiffs allege that the United States is among the largest markets for BBSW-Based Derivatives. It thus is reasonable to infer that the scheme largely was "directed to" the United States. Accordingly, although the conduct involved in the alleged conspiracy to manipulate BBSW generally is alleged to have taken place outside of the United States, the Court is not now in a position to dismiss plaintiffs' RICO claims as extraterritorial. Defendants' alleged scheme at least plausibly was directed at the United States, and the amended complaint therefore states a plausible domestic RICO claim.
VI. Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
Plaintiffs' first state claim is against defendants Macquarie Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and UBS for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The amended complaint alleges that the FrontPoint Plaintiffs entered into binding contracts with Macquarie Bank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and UBS and that Sonterra entered into binding contracts with Morgan Stanley, in each case, in connection with transactions for BBSW-Based Derivatives.
"[I]mplicit in all contracts is a covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the course of contract performance.... Encompassed within the implied obligation of each promisor to exercise good faith are any promises which a reasonable person in the position of the promisee would be justified in understanding were included. This embraces a pledge that neither party shall do anything which will have the effect of destroying or *192injuring the right of the other party to receive the fruits of the contract."352
Although the amended complaint alleges that the FrontPoint Plaintiffs contracted with Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Credit Suisse in "Australian dollar-denominated swaps,"
FrontPoint Event Driven and Sonterra seek damages from defendants Macquarie Bank Ltd. and Morgan Stanley for their respective breaches of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by (1) "intentionally manipulating BBSW for the express purpose of generating illicit profits from its BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives, and (2) conspiring with other Defendants to manipulate BBSW and the prices of BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives."
VII. Unjust Enrichment
Plaintiffs' final claim asserts unjust enrichment against all defendants.
As discussed above, a plaintiff alleging unjust enrichment under New York law "must show 'that (1) the other party was enriched, (2) at that party's expense, and (3) that "it is against equity and good conscience to permit [the other party] to retain what is sought to be recovered".' "
On this basis, plaintiffs' claims of unjust enrichment are dismissed as to all defendants except Macquarie Bank Ltd. and Morgan Stanley, with which FrontPoint Event Driven and Sonterra respectively allege having engaged in BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions directly. As discussed above with respect to plaintiffs' claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, the amended complaint fails to sufficiently allege a relationship or connection between any other defendant and plaintiff.
Plaintiffs allege that Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Bank Ltd. colluded with the other defendants to manipulate BBSW and the prices of BBSW-Based Derivatives to ensure that they would have an unfair advantage in the marketplace. Defendants "financially benefitted from their unlawful acts ... by, inter alia , (i) coordinating the manipulation of BBSW ...; and (ii) acting as a trading bloc and engaging in secret, collusive trades in the swap market to manipulate BBSW."
Defendants argue that plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claims against Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Bank Ltd. must be dismissed because the subject matter in dispute is governed by an existing contract.
*194only "where the contract does not cover the dispute in issue."
Other courts in this district have interpreted this rule narrowly and, facing claims of unjust enrichment on similar factual allegations, denied motions to dismiss. In LIBOR II ,
The Court now adopts this reasoning and concludes that dismissal of plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claims would be premature at this early stage in the litigation. It certainly is plausible that the alleged contracts between FrontPoint Event Driven and Macquarie Bank Ltd. and between Sonterra and Morgan Stanley did not "clearly cover" the manipulation of the benchmark rate underlying the derivatives that were the subject of the contracts. Defendants' motion with respect to plaintiffs' claims of unjust enrichment therefore is denied against the Morgan Stanley defendants and Macquarie Bank Ltd. and granted as to the remaining defendants.
VIII. Fraudulent Concealment
Defendants' final argument in respect of their motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is that each of plaintiffs' claims (except for their RICO claims) is untimely.
A. Antitrust Claims
The statute of limitation to bring a private antitrust action is four years.
*195
The Court will not dismiss plaintiffs' claims on statute of limitations grounds at the pleading stage unless the "complaint clearly shows the claim is out of time."
"[A]n antitrust plaintiff may prove fraudulent concealment sufficient to toll the running of the statute of limitations if he establishes (1) that the defendant concealed from him the existence of his cause of action, (2) that he remained in ignorance of that cause of action until some point within four years of the commencement of his action, and (3) that his continuing ignorance was not attributable to lack of diligence on his part."373
A plaintiff may allege fraudulent concealment "by showing either that the defendant took affirmative steps to prevent the plaintiff's discovery of his claim or injury or that the wrong itself was of such a nature as to be self-concealing."
In State of New York v. Hendrickson Brothers, Inc. ,
Plaintiffs make similar allegations here. They highlight defendants' alleged use of private communications through instant messaging to ensure that their efforts to manipulate BBSW rates would remain concealed. As a result, plaintiffs argue, they had "no knowledge of Defendants' unlawful and self-concealing manipulative acts and could not have discovered same by exercise of due diligence prior to the time of public disclosures reporting the manipulation of BBSW."
Defendants next argue that plaintiffs were on notice of their claims by the time that ASIC announced its enforceable undertakings related to BBSW from UBS, BNP Paribas, and RBS, which were accepted between December 19, 2012 and July 21, 2014.
B. CEA Claims
A claim for a violation of the CEA must be brought within two years.
C. State Law Claims
Finally, the statutes of limitations for claims of breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unjust enrichment are six years,
IX. Personal Jurisdiction
The Court now turns to the Foreign Defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue.
"In order to survive a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, a plaintiff must make a prima facie showing that jurisdiction exists."
A. Personal Jurisdiction Arising From Defendants' Contacts
Three requirements must be met in order for a court to exercise personal jurisdiction lawfully:
"First, the plaintiff's service of process upon the defendant must have been procedurally proper. Second, there must be a statutory basis for personal jurisdiction that renders such service of process effective.... Third, the exercise of personal jurisdiction must comport with constitutional due process principles."392
There being no dispute as to the first of these three pleading requirements, the Court turns to the remaining requirements.
1. Statutory Basis
"A plaintiff 'must establish the court's jurisdiction with respect to each claim asserted.' "
The only challenge to the statutory basis for personal jurisdiction is brought by the Venue Defendants in respect of plaintiffs' federal antitrust claims under the Clayton Act.
"Any suit, action, or proceeding under the antitrust laws against a corporation may be brought not only in the judicial district whereof it is an inhabitant, but also in any district wherein it may be found or transacts business; and all process in such cases may be served in the district of which it is an inhabitant, or wherever it may be found."397
"Because the service of process provision applies only to 'such cases' described in the preceding clause, the Second Circuit has concluded that nationwide service of process is permissible 'only in cases in which its venue provision is satisfied' "
Plaintiffs' argument falls short. The first part of Section 12 of the Clayton Act, which permits "[a]ny suit, action, or proceeding under the antitrust laws against a corporation [to] be brought not only in the judicial district whereof it is an inhabitant, but also in any district wherein it may be found or transacts business," is indeed an expanded venue provision.
Although plaintiffs fail to brief the issue, the Court considers whether the amended complaint has sufficiently alleged that the Venue Defendants satisfy the venue provision of Section 12 - that is, whether the amended complaint has sufficiently alleged that they "transact business" in the Southern District of New York.
Under the Clayton Act, the nationwide service of process provision apples only where the action has been brought in a district "wherein [the defendant] may be found or transacts business."
There are no allegations in the amended complaint that HSBC Holdings plc, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, ICAP plc, ICAP Australia Pty Ltd., Lloyds Banking Group plc, Morgan Stanley Australia Limited, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, RBS N.V., RBS Group (Australia) Pty Limited, Tullett Prebon plc, and Tullett Prebon (Australia) Pty Ltd. - that is, eleven out of the fourteen Venue Defendants - transacted any business in New York. Allegations that certain of these defendants are parent companies of subsidiaries that transact business in New York do not suffice to show that the parent companies transact business in New York.
As to the remaining Venue Defendants, the limited allegations in the amended complaint are unavailing. First, the amended complaint alleges that Credit Suisse Group AG "is a Swiss banking and financial services company incorporated in Switzerland" and that one of its six primary offices is located at 11 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10010.
The amended complaint next alleges that the Royal Bank of Scotland plc "maintains a Foreign Representative Office, registered *200with the NYSDF, ... at 340 Madison Avenue, New York, New York," and that its U.S. headquarters is located in Connecticut.
Finally, the amended complaint alleges that Macquarie Group Ltd. is a global banking and diversified financial services corporation headquartered in Sydney, Australia. The only allegation connecting Macquarie Group Ltd. to the Southern District of New York is that it "recruits students in the [Southern District of New York] for its New York offices."
For the foregoing reasons, the Court concludes that it cannot exercise personal jurisdiction with respect to plaintiffs' antitrust claims over the Venue Defendants. These claims therefore will be dismissed.
2. Due Process
Having dismissed plaintiffs' antitrust claims against the Venue Defendants, the Court next considers whether its exercise of personal jurisdiction with respect to (1) plaintiffs' CEA, RICO Act, and state law claims against the Venue Defendants, and (2) all of plaintiffs' claims against the Foreign Defendants other than the Venue Defendants would "comport[ ] with due process protections established under the United States Constitution."
"The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment contains a State's authority to bind a nonresident defendant to a judgment of its courts."
The Supreme Court has established two types of personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction. The Court considers each in turn below, but first turns to a threshold dispute between the parties - that is, in which forum must the Foreign Defendants have the requisite minimum contacts.
(a) Relevant Forum
The amended complaint generally alleges that the Foreign Defendants have sufficient minimum contacts with the United States as a whole, rather than with New York State.
This argument is grounded in what is known as the nationwide contacts approach. Although the Second Circuit "has not yet decided" whether to adopt this approach, several other circuits "have endorsed the position that, when a civil case arises under federal law and a federal statute authorizes nationwide service of process, the relevant contacts for determining personal jurisdiction are contacts with the United States as a whole."
*202Several courts in this district addressing federal claims with national service of process - including claims alleging benchmark rate manipulation - have adopted this nationwide contacts approach.
(b) General Jurisdiction
A court with general personal jurisdiction over a foreign defendant may "hear any and all claims against that defendant."
Plaintiffs' argument that the Foreign Defendants are subject to general jurisdiction in the United States can be dispensed with quickly. None of the Foreign Defendants is domiciled or has its principal place of business in the United States. At most, plaintiffs have alleged that certain Foreign Defendants have an active branch office in the United States, which does not approach the "exceptional case" that would permit the Court to view the defendant as "at home" here.
(c) Specific Jurisdiction
Specific jurisdiction is a significantly more limited doctrine. It "depends on an affiliation between the forum and the underlying controversy, principally, activity or an occurrence that takes place in the forum State and is therefore subject to the State's regulation."
The inquiry requires a two-step analysis:
"First, the court must decide if the defendant has " 'purposefully directed" his activities at ... the forum and the litigation ... "arise[s] out of or relate[s] to" those activities.' Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz ,471 U.S. 462 , 472,105 S.Ct. 2174 ,85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985) (citation omitted). Second, once the court has established these minimum contacts, it 'determine[s] whether the assertion of personal jurisdiction would comport with fair play and substantial justice.'Id. at 476 ,105 S.Ct. 2174 (quoting [ Int'l Shoe Co. , 326 U.S. at 320,66 S.Ct. 154 ] ). See also Asahi Metal Indus. Co. v. Superior Ct. of Cal., Solano Cnty. ,480 U.S. 102 , 113-14,107 S.Ct. 1026 ,94 L.Ed.2d 92 (1987) (identifying fairness factors that courts should consider)."435
Generally, the "minimum contacts necessary to support [specific] jurisdiction exist where the defendant purposefully availed itself of the privilege of doing business in the forum and could foresee being haled into court there."
The jurisdictional basis for plaintiffs' claims under the "purposeful availment" theory is that the Foreign Defendants engaged in suit-related conduct in the United States. They allege that certain defendants "market[ed] and s[old] BBSW-[B]ased [D]erivatives in the United States."
In Charles Schwab Corporation v. Bank of America Corporation ,
With respect to the direct-seller defendants, the Circuit concluded that while the alleged in-forum transactions with plaintiff formed a sound basis for Charles Schwab's "claims for fraud relating to omissions by Defendants in the course of selling floating-rate instruments, interference with prospective economic advantage, breach of the implied covenant, and unjust enrichment," they did not "constitute 'suit-related conduct that create[ed] a substantial connection with [the forum state]' " with respect to plaintiff's "claims premised solely on Defendants' false LIBOR submissions in London."
The Circuit then considered whether personal jurisdiction over the non-seller defendants would lie based on their membership in a conspiracy with the direct seller defendants. It noted that Charles Schwab had plausibly alleged a conspiracy,
The Foreign Defendants argue that the Court should grant their motion to dismiss on the basis of Charles Schwab because "the alleged manipulation of BBSW - an Australian benchmark interest rate - was not caused by any transactions that any Defendant entered into in the United States."
Plaintiffs argue that the "reputation-based" conspiracy alleged in Charles Schwab should be distinguished from the "profit-motivated" conspiracy alleged here.
But in Charles Schwab , which postdates Sonterra , the alleged conspiracy was undertaken both because "[b]y understating their true borrowing costs, Defendants were able to project an image of financial stability to investors who were sensitive to risks associated with major banks following the financial crisis that began in 2007" and because "[s]uppressing LIBOR ... had the immediate effect of lowering Defendants' interest payment obligations on financial instruments tied to LIBOR."
Plaintiffs assert in the alternative that Foreign Defendants are subject to personal jurisdiction because their conspiracy, the conduct of which took place entirely outside of the United States, nonetheless was purposefully directed at the United States.
To satisfy the effects test, a defendant's conduct must have been "expressly aimed" at the forum.
In Charles Schwab , the Second Circuit concluded that the effect of defendants' conduct on California markets merely was foreseeable.
Nonetheless, plaintiffs' arguments are unavailing. The Foreign Defendants may indeed have incorporated their U.S.-based BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions into the calculation of their respective exposures to the rates. But their conduct is connected more readily to the counterparties on their BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions, not the forum in which such transactions took place or where such counterparties were located.
This case can be analogized to Walden v. Fiore ,
Here, the Foreign Defendants are alleged to have engaged in calculating their exposure to BBSW-Based Derivatives while they were outside of the United States. That plaintiffs and the purported class members were in the United States and suffered from diminished returns on their BBSW-Based Derivatives transactions does not serve to connect the Foreign Defendants to the United States for jurisdictional purposes. There are no allegations that the Foreign Defendants expressly aimed their conduct at the forum - just that they expressly aimed their conduct at counterparties to BBSW-Based Derivative transactions around the world, some of whom happened to be in the United States. Plaintiffs' allegations that the United States was a substantial market for BBSW-Based Derivatives speak only to the foreseeability of the effect of the Foreign Defendants' conduct in the United States. Such contacts therefore are too *208"random, fortuitous, [and] attenuated"
Because the Court has concluded that the Foreign Defendants lack sufficient minimum contacts, it need not consider "whether the assertion of personal jurisdiction would comport with fair play and substantial justice."
B. Personal Jurisdiction Arising from Defendants' Consent
1. ISDA Master Agreements
Plaintiffs next argue that the FrontPoint Plaintiffs' claims against Credit Suisse and Macquarie Bank Ltd. arise from transactions related to ISDA Master Agreements that contain consents to personal jurisdiction in New York.
As an initial matter, it is unclear whether plaintiffs intend to allege that Credit Suisse Group AG or Credit Suisse AG entered into an ISDA Master Agreement with the FrontPoint Plaintiffs. The amended complaint states that these two defendants are referred to collectively as "Credit Suisse,"
With respect to Macquarie Bank Ltd., however, plaintiffs highlight an ISDA Master Agreement between Macquarie Bank Ltd. and FrontPoint Event Driven dated September 8, 2009.
2. New York Banking Laws
Plaintiffs next argue that defendants BNP Paribas S.A., Credit Suisse AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Lloyds Bank plc, and Macquarie Bank Ltd. have consented to general personal jurisdiction in New York by virtue of having registered to do business in New York under New York Banking Law § 200 and appointed the Superintendent of the NYSDFS as their agent for service of process.
New York Banking Law § 200 provides, in relevant part:
"No foreign banking corporation ... shall transact [banking business] in this state ... unless such corporation shall have: ...
"(3) Filed in the office of the superintendent ... a duly executed instrument in writing, by its terms of indefinite duration and irrevocable, appointing the superintendent and his or her successors its true and lawful attorney, upon whom all process in any action or proceeding against it on a cause of action arising out of a transaction with its New York agency or agencies or branch or branches, may be served with the same force and effect as if it were a domestic corporation and had been lawfully served with process within the state ."488
Plaintiffs rely on four cases, each of which is either not precedential, unpersuasive, or both.
In Varga v. Credit Suisse ,
*210Plaintiffs point also to two cases in which courts concluded that a defendant from outside of the forum state had consented to personal jurisdiction for purposes of responding to information subpoenas served in order to enforce money judgments.
Finally, plaintiffs point to Brown v. Lockheed Martin Corporation ,
Plaintiffs therefore have offered no legal basis upon which the Court should find that the applicable defendants consented to general personal jurisdiction by virtue of their registration under New York Banking Law § 200. The plain language of the statute suggests that, if anything, a banking corporation that registers under this statute would be subject to jurisdiction only in respect of a "cause of action arising out of a transaction with its New York agency or agencies or branch or branches,"
On this basis, the Court concludes that none of BNP Paribas S.A., Credit Suisse AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Lloyds Bank plc, or Macquarie Bank Ltd. has consented to general personal jurisdiction in New York by virtue of their registration under New York Banking Law § 200.
C Pendent Jurisdiction
To this point, the Court's discussion of personal jurisdiction has focused on plaintiffs' federal law claims. "The doctrine of pendent personal jurisdiction provides that 'where a federal statute authorizes nationwide service of process, and the federal and state-law claims derive from a common nucleus of operative fact, the district court may assert personal jurisdiction over the parties to the related state-law claims even if personal jurisdiction is not otherwise available.' "
With the exception of the claims asserted by FrontPoint Event Driven against Macquarie Bank Ltd., the Court has concluded that the plaintiffs have not made a prima facie showing that the Foreign Defendants are subject to personal jurisdiction in this Court. Accordingly, with the exception of Macquarie Bank Ltd., the Court is without a basis to exercise pendent jurisdiction over the Foreign Defendants in respect of plaintiffs' state law claims. As to Macquarie Bank Ltd., however, the Court agrees with plaintiffs
D. Jurisdictional Discovery
Plaintiffs' final argument is that the "Court should decline to dismiss any Defendant before simple, targeted jurisdictional discovery has occurred," reasoning that defendants have "demonstrate[d] that much of the discoverable information remains exclusively in their hands by providing declarations and documents that only tell half the story, omitting any reference to their trades in the United States, use of U.S.-based personnel, facilities, and accounts, and consent to jurisdiction in ISDA Master Agreements."
It is within the Court's discretion to allow jurisdictional discovery.
Conclusion
Defendants' motions to dismiss each are granted in part and denied in part, as follows:
A. The motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim [DI 132] is granted (except as to defendants JPMorgan Chase & Co. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.) to the following extent:
(1) All claims brought by plaintiffs FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, L.P. and FrontPoint Financial Horizons Fund, L.P. are dismissed;
(2) Plaintiffs do not have class standing to assert claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing or unjust enrichment on behalf of purported class members to the extent such class members traded in BBSW-based forward rate agreements and 90-day BAB futures;
(3) The CEA claims brought by FrontPoint Asian Event Driven Fund, L.P. and Sonterra Capital Master Fund, Ltd. are dismissed;
(4) The remaining CEA and RICO Act claims are dismissed as to defendants Deutsche Bank AG, Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Capital Markets LLC, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Lloyds Bank plc, Macquarie Group Ltd., Macquarie Bank Ltd., Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley Australia Limited, ICAP plc, ICAP Australia Pty Ltd., Tullett Prebon plc, and Tullett Prebon (Australia) Pty Ltd.;
(5) The claims of breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unjust enrichment are dismissed as to all defendants except Macquarie Bank Ltd., Morgan Stanley, and Morgan Stanley Australia Limited, and
The motion [DI 132] is denied in all other respects.
B. The motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue [DI 109] is granted in all respects except that it is denied as to the claims brought by FrontPoint Asian Event Driven Fund, L.P. against defendant Macquarie Bank Ltd.
C. Plaintiffs' request for jurisdictional discovery is denied without prejudice to their renewing such request *213within thirty (30) days after the date of entry hereof.
Any motion for leave to amend must be made no later than thirty (30) days after the date of entry hereof.
SO ORDERED.
Per the request of defendants JPMorgan Chase & Co. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. the motion to dismiss is stayed as to them.
DI 132.
DI 109.
The Foreign Defendants are: BNP Paribas, S.A.; UBS AG; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.; Commonwealth Bank of Australia; National Australia Bank Limited; Westpac Banking Corporation; Deutsche Bank AG; Credit Suisse Group AG; Credit Suisse AG; HSBC Holdings plc; HSBC Bank Australia Limited; ICAP plc; ICAP Australia Pty Ltd.; Lloyds Banking Group plc; Lloyds Bank plc; Macquarie Group Ltd.; Macquarie Bank Ltd.; Royal Bank of Canada; Morgan Stanley Australia Limited; The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc; The Royal Bank of Scotland plc; RBS N.V.; RBS Group (Australia) Pty Limited; Tullett Prebon plc; and Tullett Prebon (Australia) Pty Ltd.
The Venue Defendants are: Credit Suisse Group AG; HSBC Holdings plc; HSBC Bank Australia Limited; ICAP plc; ICAP Australia Pty Ltd.; Lloyds Banking Group plc; Macquarie Group Ltd.; Morgan Stanley Australia Limited; The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc; The Royal Bank of Scotland plc; RBS N.V.; RBS Group (Australia) Pty Limited; Tullett Prebon plc; and Tullett Prebon (Australia) Pty Ltd.
DI 63 ("AC") at ¶¶ 35-39.
See Ret. Bd. of the Policemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund of the City of Chic. v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon ,
John Downes & Jordan Elliot Goodman, Barron's Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms 187 (9th ed. 2014) [hereinafter Barron's ]; see also CSX Corp. v. Children's Inv. Fund Mgmt. (UK) ,
Barron's at 289; see also Barbara J. Etzel, Webster's New World Finance and Investment Dictionary 139 (2003).
Id. at 144.
Derivatives may be traded on regulated exchanges or over-the-counter. Exchange-traded futures are uniform as to most terms and vary only in particular ways. Over-the-counter derivatives, including forwards, are neither listed nor traded on an exchange and may be customized to suit the particular counterparties involved. Barron's at 529.
Id. at 517.
CSX Corp. ,
See trueEX, LLC v. MarkitSERV Ltd. ,
trueEX, LLC ,
AC at ¶ 193; see also Barron's at 749.
AC at ¶ 193.
Id. at ¶ 179.
The money market is the market for short-term debt instruments - that is, a debt obligation due within one year. Barron's at 459, 693.
AC at ¶¶ 162, 166.
Id. at ¶ 162. For example, if a bank bill matures in 90 days, it has a three-month tenor. Id.
Id. at ¶ 165.
Id. at ¶¶ 166-167.
Id. at ¶¶ 163-164.
In so stating, the Court implies nothing concerning the tax treatment of such transactions under U.S. or foreign law.
Id. at ¶ 166.
Id. at ¶ 168.
Id. at ¶¶ 169-171.
Id. at ¶ 171.
Id. at ¶ 176.
Id. at ¶ 179.
Id. at ¶ 179.
As of September 27, 2013, the process of calculating BBSW changed to move away from panel bank submissions and toward an automated process whereby rates were extracted directly from brokers and electronic markets. Evolution of the BBSW Methodology, Council of Fin. Regulators , https://www.cfr.gov.au/publications/consultations/evolution-of-the-bbsw-methodology/ (last visited Nov. 20, 2018). Effective January 1, 2017, the AFMA stopped acting as the administrator for BBSW. The Australian Securities Exchange now administers BBSW. Market Data, AFMA, https://afma.com.au/data (last visited Nov. 20, 2018).
AC at ¶ 176.
Id. at ¶ 179.
According to the amended complaint, "[t]his discretionary election process resulted in an extremely low turnover in panel membership. While there were several BBSW panel elections during the Class Period, but [sic] the composition of the panel did not change." Id.
Id. at ¶ 182.
Id. at ¶ 177.
Id. at ¶¶ 177-178.
Id. at ¶ 183.
Id. at ¶ 184.
Id. at ¶ 185.
Id. at ¶ 186.
Id. at ¶ 190.
Id. at ¶ 191.
Plaintiffs allege also that "there is a statistically significant relationship between a change in BBSW and a change in the prices of CME Australian dollar futures contracts" because BBSW is incorporated into the formula used to price CME Australian dollar futures contracts. Id. at ¶ 192.
Id. at ¶ 194.
Id. at ¶ 193.
Id. at ¶¶ 195, 198.
Id. at ¶¶ 35, 283-285.
Id. at ¶ 36.
Id. at ¶¶ 286-288.
Id. at ¶¶ 289-291.
Id. at ¶¶ 292-294.
Id. at ¶ 38.
Id. at ¶¶ 37, 39. The amended complaint alleged that FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, L.P. was a Delaware limited partnership as well, but subsequent court filings indicate that this entity in fact was established in the Cayman Islands. DI 187-1 at 4.
AC at ¶¶ 37-39.
Id. at ¶¶ 295-299.
There are no specific examples of transactions provided with respect to either FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, L.P. or FrontPoint Financial Horizons Fund, L.P. The amended complaint alleges also that defendants Macquarie, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland ("RBS"), UBS, and Credit Suisse traded Australian dollar-denominated swaps with the FrontPoint Plaintiffs while BBSW was being manipulated, but does not allege how these Australian dollar-denominated swap were connected to BBSW. Id. at ¶ 23.
Id. at ¶ 304.
A.S.I.C. v. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, ACN 005 357 522 , Concise Statement at 1 (F.C.A. Mar. 4, 2016) (accusing ANZ of engaging "in market manipulation, unconscionable conduct and other unlawful behaviour which likely influenced the setting of the BBSW in such a way as to advantage ANZ over others with an opposite exposure to the BBSW" on 44 occasions between March 9, 2010 and May 25, 2012).
A.S.I.C. v. Westpac Banking Corporation, ACN 007 457 141 , Concise Statement at 1 (F.C.A. Apr. 5, 2016) (accusing Westpac of trading Prime Bank Bills "with the intention and likely effect of influencing the setting of the [BBSW] to its advantage and to the disadvantage of parties to certain products who had an opposite exposure to the BBSW" on 16 occasions between April 6, 2010 and June 6, 2012).
A.S.I.C. v. National Australia Bank Limited, ACN 004 044 937 , Concise Statement at 1 (F.C.A. June 7, 2016) (accusing NAB of trading "Prime Bank Bills in the Bank Bill Market with the intention and likely effect of influencing the setting of the [BBSW] to its advantage, or to the advantage of one of its business units, and to the disadvantage of parties to certain products who had an opposite exposure to the BBSW" on 50 occasions between June 8, 2010 and December 24, 2012).
A.S.I.C. v. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ACN 123 123 124 , Concise Statement at 1 (F.C.A. Jan. 30, 2018) (accusing CBA of "trading Prime Bank Bills in the Bank Bill market with the purpose of affecting the yield of Prime Bank Bills and the setting of the [BBSW] to its advantage or to the advantage of one of its business units ... and to the disadvantage of parties to certain products who had an opposite exposure to the BBSW" between January 31, 2012 and around October 2012 and of knowing or believing "that other Prime Banks, including ANZ, NAB and Westpac, also engaged in this trading practice").
Ultimately, ANZ and NAB each settled with ASIC for a total of $50 million (Au) in penalties and costs and acknowledged improperly attempting to manipulate BBSW on numerous occasions. Press Release, ASIC, 17-393MR ASIC Accepts Enforceable Undertakings from ANZ and NAB to Address Conduct Relating to BBSW (Nov. 20, 2017), https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-centre/find-a-media-release/2017-releases/17-393mr-asic-accepts-enforceable-undertakings-from-anz-and-nab-to-address-conduct-relating-to-bbsw/. CBA and ASIC also reached an agreement in principle to settle the legal proceeding, pursuant to which CBA agreed to pay $25 million (Au) and acknowledge its unconscionable conduct related to BBSW on numerous occasions. Press Release, CBA Group, CBA and ASIC Agree In-PrincipleSettlementOverBBSW (May 9, 2018), https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180509/pdf/43twn0khh969y5.pdf. Each of NAB, ANZ, and CBA agreed also to take certain measures to change its BBSW rate setting practices and to be subject to monitoring by an independent expert. As to Westpac, the Federal Court of Australia concluded, following trial, that Westpac had traded Prime Bank Bills on four occasions with the dominant purpose of influencing BBSW in order to favor its BBSW exposure. Press Release, ASIC, 18-151MR Federal Court Finds Westpac Traded to Affect the BBSW and Engaged in Unconscionable Conduct (May 24, 2018), https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-centre/find-a-media-release/2018-releases/18-151mr-federal-court-finds-westpac-traded-to-affect-the-bbsw-and-engaged-in-unconscionable-conduct/. The Court subsequently imposed a penalty of $3.3 million (Au) on Westpac, which apparently was the maximum applicable penalty. Patrick Durkin, Westpac Fined $3.3 million in ASIC BBSW Case: "Clearly Inadequate" , The Australian Financial Review (Nov. 9, 2018, 3:43 P.M., updated at 4:56 P.M.), https://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/westpac-fined-33-million-in-asic-bbsw-case-20181109-h17pv7.
In prior years (2012 and 2014), ASIC had accepted enforceable undertaking related to BBSW from defendants UBS, BNP Paribas and RBS. Unlike ASIC's more recent settlements with ANZ, NAB, and CBA, however, none of UBS, BNP Paribas or RBS admitted to any wrongdoing as part of their settlement. See Enforceable Undertaking between The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and ASIC at § 5.9 (July 21, 2014), available at https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1301287/028492040.pdf; Enforceable Undertaking between BNP Paribas and ASIC at § 5.5 (Jan. 28, 2014), available at https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1301239/028399392.pdf; Enforceable Undertaking between UBS AG and ASIC at § 5.5 (Dec. 23, 2013), available at https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1301413/028553828.pdf.
AC at ¶ 318.
With respect to the allegations concerning the submission of false Prime Bank Bill mid-rates, id. at ¶ 272, in some instances, the individuals responsible for making the mid-rate submissions would accept and even solicit requests for BBSW manipulation from derivatives traders. In others, the banks gave the responsibility for making BBSW submissions to BBSW-Based Derivative traders, thus creating a conflict of interest. Id. at ¶¶ 273-275.
Id. at ¶ 319.
Id. at ¶ 202.
Id. at ¶¶ 206-211, 215-217.
Id. at ¶¶ 212-213.
Id. at ¶ 205.
Id. at ¶ 204; see also id. at ¶ 221.
Id. at ¶ 222; see also id. at ¶¶ 223-236.
Id. at ¶¶ 238-240.
Id. at ¶¶ 269-270.
Id. at ¶ 251.
Id. at ¶¶ 255-258.
Id. at ¶ 248.
Id. at ¶¶ 253-254.
Id. at ¶ 248.
Id. at ¶ 259.
Id. at ¶¶ 260-263, 267.
Id. at ¶ 264.
Id. at ¶ 265.
Id. at ¶ 331.
Id. at ¶ 334.
Id. at ¶ 325.
Id. at ¶¶ 326-327.
AC at ¶ 345.
To the extent required, plaintiffs assert their claims of unjust enrichment and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the alternative in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(d).
Defendants have filed a separate motion to dismiss the claims brought by Sonterra and the FrontPoint Plaintiffs because, defendants allege, these plaintiffs no longer exist and therefore lack standing and legal capacity to sue. DI 207 (notice of motion by letter), DI 213 (brief). The Court will resolve that motion in a separate opinion and does not now reach the issues there raised.
As discussed later in this opinion, the Venue Defendants' motion to dismiss, although characterized as one for improper venue, in substance challenges plaintiffs' antitrust claims for lack of personal jurisdiction, which in turn depends on the Clayton Act's venue provision.
Harry v. Total Gas & Power N. Am., Inc. ,
As discussed above, the Court will write separately on and does not now reach the questions of Sonterra's and the FrontPoint Plaintiffs' standing raised in defendants' subsequent motion to dismiss.
Ross v. Bank of Am. N.A. (USA) ,
Harry ,
Alaska Elec. Pension Fund v. Bank of Am. Corp. ,
Ross ,
DI 134 at 10-12.
AC at ¶ 191.
Id. at ¶ 194.
Id. at ¶ 193.
See, e.g., Sullivan v. Barclays PLC , No. 13-cv-2811 (PKC),
DI 134 at 11-13 (citing, among other authorities, In re LIBOR-Based Fin. Instruments Antitrust Litig. ("LIBOR II") ,
See Harry ,
Sullivan ,
DI 134 at 9-10.
NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman Sachs & Co. ,
Ret. Bd. of the Policemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund of the City of Chic. ,
The varying tranches in the offering dictated the payment priority to the various holders of the certificates.
Ret. Bd. of the Policemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund of the City of Chic. v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon ,
See, e.g., Sullivan ,
Skillgames, LLC v. Brody ,
Gaia House Mezz LLC v. State Street Bank & Trust Co. ,
AC at ¶¶ 191, 195-199.
NECA-IBEW ,
Mandarin Trading Ltd. v. Wildenstein ,
Ashcroft v. Iqbal ,
Rombach v. Chang ,
Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b).
Amusement Indus., Inc. v. Stern ,
Lerner v. Fleet Bank, N.A. ,
Harry ,
Daniel v. Am. Bd. of Emergency Med. ,
Gelboim ,
Harry ,
Gelboim ,
Gelboim ,
Gatt Commc'ns, Inc. ,
Daniel ,
Harry ,
AC at ¶ 318.
Id. at ¶ 319.
Gelboim ,
Id. at 771-75.
Id. at 776.
Id. at 779 (citations omitted).
See In re London Silver Fixing, Ltd., Antitrust Litig. ,
Cf. Alaska Elec. Pension Fund ,
Gelboim ,
In re London Silver Fixing, Ltd., Antitrust Litig. ,
See Gelboim ,
Gelboim ,
DI 134 at 24.
Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures ,
Id. at 262-65.
Gelboim ,
In re Commodity Exch., Inc. ,
Gelboim ,
Id. at 780 (stating that it was "wholly unclear on this record how issues of duplicate recovery and damage apportionment c[ould] be assessed").
Starr v. Sony BMG Music Entm't ,
Twombly ,
Twombly ,
Anderson News, L.L.C. ,
Anderson News, L.L.C. ,
Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Citigroup, Inc. ,
Gelboim ,
See
That BBSW is not itself a price is of no moment. The amended complaint alleges that the benchmark rate is incorporated as a component of the price of certain financial instruments and "the fixing of a component of price violates the antitrust laws." Gelboim ,
Id. at 781-82.
See, e.g., Alaska Elec. Pension Fund ,
See, e.g., FrontPoint Asian Event Driven Fund, L.P. v. Citibank, N.A. , No. 16 Civ. 5263 (AKH),
The Court is not persuaded by defendants' argument that the amended complaint improperly contains pleadings only as to the group of defendants as a whole, rather than as to each individual defendant. The Court respectfully departs from others that have dismissed claims for improper group pleading. E.g., Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. v. Credit Suisse Grp. AG ,
See Alaska Elec. Pension Fund ,
See United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. ,
15 U.S.C. § 6a.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A. ,
DI 134 at 24-25.
Lotes Co., Ltd. v. Hon Hai Precision Indus. Co. ,
AC at ¶¶ 300-303.
Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
See U.S. Dep't of Justice & Fed. Trade Comm'n , Antitrust Guidelines for International Enforcement and Cooperation § 3.2, at 21 (Jan. 13, 2017).
Lotes Co. ,
Section 6(c) of the CEA makes it unlawful also to "use or employ, or attempt to use or employ, in connection with any swap, or a contract of sale of any commodity in interstate commerce, or for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity, any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance" in violation of rules promulgated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") and to "make any false or misleading statement of a material fact to the [CFTC]."Id. § 9(1) -(2) ; see alsoid. § 1a(8) (defining "Commission"). Neither provision is implicated by the factual allegations in the amended complaint.
In the same cause of action, the amended complaint asserts that all defendants are liable as principals under Section 9 of the CEA, codified at7 U.S.C. § 13 , which defines criminal penalties arising from similar conduct.
See
See
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Pub. L. No. 111-203, § 754,
7 U.S.C. § 1a(19) (2006).
DI 156 at 28-31 (stating that FrontPoint Plaintiffs and Sonterra do not allege CEA claims for BBSW-Based Derivatives traded before Dodd Frank became effective and addressing merits only as to CME futures contracts).
Harry ,
Id. at 112.
DI 134 at 30-31.
AC at ¶ 283; see also id. at ¶ 191 (alleging formulaic connection between CME Australian dollar futures and BBSW).
Harry ,
AC at ¶¶ 283-285.
Cf. Harry , 889 at 113 n.4 ("In articulating this [Section 22 ] standard, we do not impose a loss causation requirement, which would mandate demonstrating losses in specific trades. We have never imported loss causation from the securities context and we do not begin to do so with this case." (citation omitted) ).
In re Amaranth Natural Gas Commodities Litig. ,
The Second Circuit has not decided whether, as a general rule, CEA claims are subject to the heightened pleading standard of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b).
Rombach ,
See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b).
ATSI Commc'ns, Inc. v. Shaar Fund, Ltd. ,
In re Commodity Exch., Inc. , 213 F.Supp.3d at 670 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Amusement Indus., Inc. ,
Lerner ,
See In re Amaranth Natural Gas Commodities Litig. ,
Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
In re Amaranth Natural Gas Commodities Litig. ,
See, e.g., Sullivan ,
AC at ¶¶ 208-213 (on December 1 and December 10, 2010), 229-230 (in March 2010 and February and June 2011), 238 (discussing plans to acquire "ammo" on March 9, 2011), 249-250 (March 10 and August 10, 2011).
Id. at ¶¶ 216-220 (on July 1, 2011, April 7, 2010 and June 30, 2009), 238 (June 8, 2010), 255-257 (on April 30, 2010).
Id. at ¶¶ 221-223 (in February, April, and December 2010), 226 (in July 2011), 235 (on March 24, 2010), 238-239 (on January 23, 2012 and March 9, 2011), 251-252 (on February 22, 2011).
Id. at ¶¶ 221-223 (on December 20, 2010).
Id. at ¶¶ 242-244 (on April 22, 2010).
Id. at ¶ 226 (promising not to repeat information shared on July 19, 2011).
Westpac and CBA allegedly structured their trading desks to maximize their profits from manipulating the BBSW rate set. Id. at ¶¶ 269-270.
Id. at ¶¶ 272-275.
The CEA claims as to principal-agent liability and aiding and abetting liability as to these defendants are sustained as well. There is no indication here that the employees mentioned in the amended complaint acted outside of the scope of their employment. Indeed, the profit-seeking motive alleged in the amended complaint would naturally benefit the institutions for which the employees worked.
The amended complaint sufficiently alleges aiding and abetting liability as well. Defendant banks allegedly knew that efforts to manipulate BBSW were widespread and shared information with one another to coordinate transactions and align interests. In addition, the banks facilitated other banks' manipulative trading by providing them with "ammunition" in order to be able sell off more Prime Bank Bills during a given Fixing Period. These acts of affirmative assistance and indications of knowledge and intent suffice to state a claim of aiding and abetting liability against the entities from the nine bank defendants mentioned above.
Id. at ¶¶ 241, 251-252.
Id. at ¶ 253.
Moreover, even though J.P. Futures had extended Amaranth's credit limit and bypassed their internal position limits to accommodate Amaranth's trades, these "non-routine" activities had been alleged to have been performed only in connection with Amaranth's accumulation of large open positions, not with Amaranth's manipulative trades.Id. at 185-86 .
See Morrison v. Nat'l Australia Bank Ltd. ,
RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community , --- U.S. ----,
Loginovskaya v. Batratchenko ,
Sullivan ,
Loginovskaya ,
Id. at 267.
Loginovskaya ,
Myun-Uk Choi v. Tower Research Capital LLC ,
AC at ¶ 20.
Nor is the Court persuaded by In re North Sea Brent Crude Oil Futures Litig. ,
See
First Capital Asset Mgmt. v. Brickellbush ,
DI 134 at 38.
Town of West Hartford ,
Boyle v. United States ,
Elsevier Inc. v. W.H.P.R., Inc. ,
Cruz v. FXDirectDealer, LLC ,
DI 134 at 41 (citation omitted).
AC at ¶ 345.
United States v. Shellef ,
See, e.g., Lundy v. Catholic Health System of Long Island Inc. ,
Lundy , 711 F.3d at 119 (citing McLaughlin v. Anderson ,
Angermeir v. Cohen ,
AC at ¶¶ 345, 347.
Id. at ¶ 348.
Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
DI 134 at 42.
Elsevier Inc. ,
Id. at 313.
--- U.S. ----,
The Supreme Court there held also that "[i]rrespective of any extraterritorial application of § 1962... § 1964(c) does not overcome the presumption against extraterritoriality." Therefore, "[a] private RICO plaintiff ... must allege and prove a domestic injury to its business or property."
AC at ¶¶ 336-350.
European Community v. RJR Nabisco, Inc. ,
European Community , 764 F.3d at 142.
DI 134 at 39.
AC at ¶ 346.
Chevron Corp. ,
See, e.g., Sonterra Capital Master Fund, Ltd. ,
AC at ¶ 363.
Dalton ,
While the amended complaint does not allege which law governs plaintiffs' state law claims, there is no dispute that New York law is applicable to both. DI 134 at 44-45, DI 156 at 36.
AC at ¶ 23; see also id. at ¶ 109 (alleging that "Deutsche Bank AG entered into Australian dollar-denominated derivatives transactions with [the FrontPoint Plaintiffs] during the Class Period" and "agreed that these transactions were governed by New York law"); ¶ 150 (repeating allegation as to Credit Suisse).
Id. at ¶¶ 286-299.
Mandarin Trading Ltd. ,
In re London Silver Fixing, Ltd., Antitrust Litig. , 213 F.Supp.3d at 574 (quoting Kaye v. Grossman ,
See also Mandarin Trading Ltd. ,
AC at ¶¶ 369-370.
DI 134 at 45 (citing Korea Life Ins. Co., Ltd. v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of New York ,
Ashwood Capital, Inc. v. OTG Mgmt., Inc. ,
Ashwood Capital, Inc. ,
Union Bank, N.A. v. CBS Corp. , No. 08 Civ. 8362 (PGG),
15 U.S.C. § 15b.
AC at ¶ 311.
DI 134 at 25.
Harris v. City of New York ,
State of New York v. Hendrickson Bros., Inc. ,
AC at ¶ 315.
DI 134 at 26.
See Enforceable Undertaking between UBS AG and ASIC at § 5.5 (Dec. 23, 2013), available at https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1301413/028553828.pdf; Enforceable Undertaking between BNP Paribas and ASIC at § 5.5 (Jan. 28, 2014), available at https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1301239/028399392.pdf; Enforceable Undertaking between The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and ASIC at § 5.9 (July 21, 2014), available at https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1301287/028492040.pdf.
DI 156 at 45.
Id. at 46.
Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
DI 156 at 46.
Alaska Elec. Pension Fund ,
ACE Sec. Corp., Home Equity Loan Trust, Series 2006-SL2 v. DB Structured Prods., Inc. ,
Licci ex rel. Licci v. Lebanese Canadian Bank, SAL ,
Charles Schwab Corp. v. Bank of Am. Corp. ,
Licci ex rel. Licci ,
Waldman v. Palestine Liberation Org. ,
Charles Schwab Corp. ,
McGraw-Hill Global Educ. Holdings, LLC v. Mathrani ,
The relevant provision of the Clayton Act is discussed below. The CEA provides for nationwide service of process without restriction:
"Process in such action may be served in any judicial district of which the defendant is an inhabitant or wherever the defendant may be found."
The RICO Act provides for national service of process where "the 'ends of justice' so require," PT United Can Co. v. Crown Cork & Seal Co. ,
"In any action under section 1964 of this chapter in any district court of the United States in which it is shown that the ends of justice require that other parties residing in any other district be brought before the court, the court may cause such parties to be summoned, and process for that purpose may be served in any judicial district of the United States by the marshal thereof."
Although the Foreign Defendants challenge also the statutory basis for plaintiffs' assertion of conspiracy jurisdiction, the Court need not reach this question because, as discussed below, plaintiffs have failed to make a prima facie showing of jurisdiction under a conspiracy jurisdiction theory.
Sullivan ,
DI 110 at 30.
DI 153 at 29.
Daniel ,
See
See
Daniel ,
Gates v. Wilkinson , No. 01 Civ. 3145 (GBD),
Daniel ,
See, e.g., Scophony Corp. of Am. ,
AC at ¶ 144.
DI 115 at 2.
See Credit Suisse Group AG, Annual Report (Form 20-F) at 135 (March 24, 2016); Credit Suisse Group AG, Annual Report (Form 20-F) at 125 (March 20, 2015); Credit Suisse Group AG, Annual Report (Form 20-F) at 114 (April 3, 2014); Credit Suisse Group AG, Annual Report (Form 20-F) at 108-09 (March 23, 2012); see also Indymac Mortg.Holdings, Inc. v. Reyad ,
AC at ¶¶ 57-58.
DI 127 at 3.
AC at ¶ 128.
Daniel ,
Licci ex rel. Licci ,
Walden v. Fiore ,
Gucci Am., Inc. v. Weixing Li ,
Licci ex rel. Licci ,
In re Platinum & Palladium Antitrust Litig. , No. 1:14-cv-9391-GHW,
AC at ¶¶ 17-33.
DI 153 at 3-4.
Gucci Am., Inc. ,
Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
E.g.,
Waldman ,
Daimler AG v. Bauman ,
Gucci Am., Inc. ,
See Perkins v. Benguet Consol. Mining Co. ,
Gucci Am., Inc. ,
Waldman ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Ct. of Cal., S.F. Cnty. , --- U.S. ----,
Walden , 571 U.S. at 284,
Gucci Am., Inc. ,
Licci ex rel. Licci ,
Charles Schwab Corp. ,
DI 153 at 4; AC at ¶¶ 17, 33.
DI 153 at 8.
Id. at 84 (quoting Waldman ,
Id. at 87 (citation omitted).
Id. (citation omitted).
Def. Letter of March 6, 2018, at 4 (emphasis omitted).
Pl. Letter of March 12, 2018, at 3; see
Charles Schwab Corp. ,
The Court notes also that certain of plaintiffs' allegations concerning the Foreign Defendants' transactions in the United States attribute such transactions to corporate families and fail to distinguish between parent and subsidiary entities. In these cases, personal jurisdiction is precluded on the additional basis that the allegations are "insufficiently 'individualized' to make out a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction." Charles Schwab Corp. ,
DI 153 at 16-21.
Licci ex rel. Licci ,
Walden , 571 U.S. at 284,
Id. at 285,
Waldman ,
Id. at 339 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Id. at 338 (discussing Walden ).
Charles Schwab Corp. ,
DI 153 at 17.
Id. at 18.
Id. at 289,
Id. at 290,
Waldman ,
Licci ex rel. Licci ,
DI 153 at 21-22.
See DI 154-3, DI 154-7.
AC at ¶ 146.
DI 154-7 at 1.
See Charles Schwab Corp. ,
DI 154-3.
As discussed above, plaintiffs FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, L.P. and FrontPoint Financial Horizons Fund, L.P. lack standing to assert their claims. Accordingly, the Court considers only the alleged ISDA Master Agreement to which FrontPoint Event Driven is party.
DI 154-3 at 12.
D 154-4 at ECF 13.
DI 154-13 at ECF 2.
DI 153 at 22-25.
Plaintiffs point also to New York Banking Law § 200-b, which provides, in relevant part:
"[A]n action or special proceeding against a foreign banking corporation may be maintained by ... a non-resident in the following cases only: ... - where the defendant is a foreign banking corporation doing business in this state."Id. § 200-b(2)(e).
Reliance on this statute is unpersuasive as the New York Court of Appeals, in Indosuez Int'l Fin. v. Nat'l Reserve Bank ,98 N.Y.2d 238 , 248,746 N.Y.S.2d 631 ,774 N.E.2d 696 (2002), has indicated that Section 200-b provides for subject-matter jurisdiction, rather than personal jurisdiction, over claims against foreign parties.
See Vera v. Republic of Cuba ,
Vera ,
FrontPoint Asian Event Driven Fund, L.P. ,
See Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
Charles Schwab Corp. ,
DI 153 at 4 n.5.
Id. at 30.
DI 164 at 15 (citations omitted).
Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Richard DENNIS v. JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
- Cited By
- 41 cases
- Status
- Published