offering of 5.75% Series A
Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock (collectively, the “Offerings”). The complaint alleges, inter alia, that the Viacom offering documents for both
issuances contained material omissions because they did not disclose that certain of the underwriters, including MS&Co., had prime brokerage relationships and served as counterparties to certain derivative transactions with Archegos Capital Management LP, (“Archegos”), a fund with significant exposure to Viacom securities across multiple prime brokers. The complaint, which seeks, among other things, unspecified compensatory damages, alleges that the offering documents did not adequately disclose the risks associated with Archegos’s concentrated Viacom positions at the various prime brokers, including that the unwind of those positions could have a deleterious impact on the stock price of Viacom. On November 5, 2021, the complaint was amended to add allegations that defendants failed to disclose that certain underwriters, including MS&Co., had intended to unwind Archegos’s Viacom positions while simultaneously distributing the Offerings. On February 6, 2023, the court issued a decision denying the motions to dismiss as to MS&Co. and the other underwriters, but granted the motion to dismiss as to Viacom and the Viacom individual defendants. On February 15, 2023, the underwriters, including MS&Co., filed their notices of appeal of the denial of their motions to dismiss. On March 10, 2023, the plaintiff appealed the dismissal of Viacom and the individual Viacom defendants. On January 4, 2024, the court granted the plaintiff’s motion for class certification. On February 14, 2024, the defendants filed their notice of appeal.
On December 30, 2013, Wilmington Trust Company, in its capacity as trustee for Morgan Stanley Mortgage Loan Trust 2007-12, filed a complaint against MS&Co. styled Wilmington Trust Company v. Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC et al., pending in the Supreme Court of NY. The complaint asserted claims for breach of contract and alleged, among other things, that the loans in the trust, which had an original principal balance of approximately $516 million, breached various representations and warranties. The complaint sought, among other relief, unspecified damages, attorneys’ fees, interest and costs. On February 28, 2014, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which was granted in part and denied in part on June 14, 2016. Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal of that order on August 17, 2016. On July 11, 2017, First Department affirmed in part and reversed in part an order granting in part and denying in part MS&Co.’s motion to dismiss. On August 10, 2017, plaintiff filed a motion for leave to appeal that decision. On September 26, 2017, the First Department denied plaintiff’s motion for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals. On October 31, 2018, the parties entered into an agreement to settle the litigation. On September 10, 2019, the court entered a final judgment and order granting final approval of the settlement. On November 11, 2019, the parties filed a stipulation of voluntary discontinuance, dismissing
the action with prejudice.
On September 19, 2014, FGIC filed a complaint against MS&Co. in the Supreme Court of NY, styled Financial Guaranty Insurance Company v. Morgan Stanley ABS Capital I Inc. et al. relating to a securitization issued by Basket of Aggregated Residential NIMS 2007-1 Ltd. The complaint asserted claims for breach of contract and alleges, among other things, that the net interest margin securities (“NIMS”) in the trust breached various representations and warranties. FGIC issued a financial guaranty policy with respect to certain notes that had an original balance of approximately $475 million. The complaint sought, among other relief, specific performance of the NIMS breach remedy procedures in the transaction documents, unspecified damages, reimbursement of certain payments made pursuant to the transaction documents, attorneys’ fees and interest. On November 24, 2014, MS&Co. filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which the court denied on January 19, 2017. On February 24, 2017, MS&Co. filed a notice of appeal of the denial of its motion to dismiss the complaint and perfected its appeal on November 22, 2017. On September 13, 2018, the court affirmed the lower court’s order denying MS&Co.’s motion to dismiss the complaint. On November 13, 2019, the parties entered into an agreement to settle the litigation. On December 4, 2019, the parties filed a stipulation of voluntary discontinuance, dismissing the action with prejudice.
Beginning on March 25, 2019, MS&Co. was named as a defendant in a series of putative class action complaints filed in the Southern District of New York, the first of which is styled Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. BofA Secs., Inc., et al. Each complaint alleges a conspiracy to fix prices and restrain competition in