Pomerantz Law Firm Files a Securities Fraud Lawsuit Against Danske Bank Relating to Money Laundering Scheme
GlobeNewswire December 27, 2019
NEW YORK, Dec. 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that it has filed a securities fraud lawsuit on behalf of several dozen institutional investors in conjunction with the ISAF-Danske Coalition (International Securities Associations and Foundations Management Company for Damaged Danske Investors). The Writ is being filed today, December 27, 2019, in the District Court of Copenhagen, Denmark by Danish law firm Németh Sigetty Advokatpartnerselskab, the coalition’s counsel in Denmark. The coalition is further represented by a prominent group of leading American, German and Dutch securities litigation law firms along with top legal and financial services experts. In connection with the highly publicized money laundering scandal, the ISAF-Danske Coalition has received mandates to represent dozens of institutional investors that suffered approximately 1.5 billion DKK in losses in its initial filing.
Jeremy Lieberman, Managing Partner of Pomerantz LLP commented “the money laundering scandal at Danske has caused billions of dollars of investment losses to institutional investors. The overwhelming liability and damages to investors triggered by this $200 billion money laundering scheme demands a substantial monetary remedy. While an investor in the U.S. markets takes for granted a predictable mechanism of recovery for losses suffered due to securities fraud, the track record in Denmark and other countries in continental Europe is far less well-developed. We hope this lawsuit can serve as a paradigm for investors to secure relief from fraud impacting international markets, irrespective of the jurisdiction.”
The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of dozens of institutional investors who manage trillions of Euros in assets, including; state and government pension and treasury systems, insurance companies, asset and investment managers in the United States, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Austria, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Australia and others.
Partner and head of Client Services, Jennifer Pafiti notes that “the action Pomerantz has organized and brought on behalf of its clients demonstrates our commitment to seek recoveries for clients wherever their loss is situated. This action is the first step for us to hold Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest bank, accountable for the unprecedented money laundering scheme that has caused hundreds of billions of dollars in losses for investors.”
The lawsuit details how Danske Bank violated Danish Capital Market Laws by failing to disclose that its financial income statements and retained earnings included significant earnings from known illegal high-risk money laundering activities.
The lawsuit addresses both the lack of disclosure of the fact that the bank’s financial performance was inflated by illegal sources of income and the further related risks of its continued questionable business activities. These included the risk of the negative business impact of regulatory intervention, significant regulatory fines, loss of reputation, loss of customers, deterioration of enterprise value and the elimination of a significant income component in the bank’s existing and future earnings.
Beginning in 2017, information about money laundering activities in Danske’s Estonian branch began to emerge. Revelations of the bank’s extensive money laundering activities, which is estimated to have exceeded $200 billion in unlawful transactions, were compounded by the failure of Danske Bank to disclose that it had received, ignored and concealed repeated warnings from regulators and whistleblowers. As a result, Danske Bank’s share price declined by more than 58% between September 2017 and May 2019, causing severe harm to investors. The lawsuit seeks the recovery of losses for investors who were damaged by Danske Bank’s failure to disclose financial and regulatory risks, as required by Danish Capital Market Law, in connection with its violation of International Banking and Treasury regulations.
Danske Bank shareholders and debtholders should contact Pomerantz LLP for more information on how to file a claim for damages. There is no cost or obligation to institutional investors for Pomerantz’s review of potential claims. Unlike a US securities class action, eligible investors that wish to participate in the collective lawsuit must proactively file a lawsuit in order to join the action. For more information, investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.