International law firm Cohen & Gresser represented Sierra Space Corporation, a commercial space company that is building and delivering the infrastructure and systems required for the future of space travel, in its record-breaking $1.4 billion Series A financing round. The private funding round represents the largest aerospace and defense capital raise in the world in 2021 and the second-largest private capital raise of all time in the aerospace and defense sector. Leading global investors including General Atlantic, Coatue, and Moore Strategic Ventures, along with private equity funds managed by firms including Black Rock and AE Industrial Partners and various family offices, all participated in the transaction. Cohen & Gresser served as counsel to our client Sierra Space on all aspects of the transaction. “We are proud of the opportunity to assist Sierra Space in this groundbreaking transaction to support the future of space travel,” said Jeffrey M. Bronheim, lead partner on the engagement for Cohen & Gresser. The Cohen & Gresser team was led by Jeffrey M. Bronheim, Bonnie J. Roe, and Daniel H. Mathias, with assistance from associates Winnifred A Lewis and Georgia Moorhouse. C&G partners Nicholas J. Kaiser (tax), Ronald F. Wick (antitrust), and David F. Lisner (litigation) provided additional support. Read Sierra Space Corporation’s press release here.

C&G successfully obtained the First Department’s affirmance of an order dismissing all claims against our client Fidelity Brokerage Services in a dispute stemming from the acts of convicted fraudster Andrew Caspersen, who allegedly deposited the proceeds of a fraudulent scheme into his trading accounts at Fidelity.

Andrew Caspersen was a prominent and wealthy investment banker who used his position at a reputable private equity firm to lure friends and family to invest in shell entities that he created purportedly to make investments in profitable, risk-free opportunities. In reality, Caspersen funneled the stolen funds from the shell entities to a personal trading account that he held at Fidelity. The brokerage firm ultimately terminated Caspersen’s account several months before Caspersen was arrested and charged with securities and wire fraud. After Caspersen’s guilty plea, his defrauded friends and family brought this suit, claiming that Caspersen’s deposits of their money from the shell entities to his personal trading account constituted fraudulent conveyances under New York’s Debtor and Creditor Law and that Fidelity was therefore liable for the funds that Caspersen stole.

The First Department held that Fidelity did not have dominion and control over the assets in Caspersen’s account so there were no conveyances subject to recovery under fraudulent conveyance law.  In addition, it held that Caspersen’s lack of good faith in deceiving his victims did not constitute a lack of good faith for purposes of fraudulent conveyance law. The First Department’s decision reaffirmed important principles of fraudulent conveyance law that protect financial institutions and, in turn, their innocent customers from the costs of unrelated frauds.

The C&G team consisted of Daniel H Tabak, David F Lisner, Nicole Dhir, Alexandra K Theobald, and Jeffrey Sherman.

International law firm Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that Jeffrey I Lang, David F Lisner, and Reggie Schafer have been promoted to Partner, and Sri Kuehnlenz and Daniel H Mathias have been promoted to Counsel.

Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that 35 of the firm's New York and Washington D.C.­based attorneys have been named to the 2020 Super Lawyers List across a wide range of practice areas. C&G co-­founder Mark S Cohen and partners Jonathan S Abernethy and Daniel H Tabak have also been named to the Super Lawyers list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partner Karen H Bromberg has been recognized as one of the top 50 women lawyers in the New York metropolitan area.

A C&G team consisting of Daniel H Tabak, David F Lisner, and Lauren J Salamon achieved a complete dismissal of all claims against our client Fidelity Brokerages Services in a dispute stemming from the acts of convicted fraudster Andrew Caspersen, who allegedly deposited the proceeds of his fraudulent scheme into his trading accounts at Fidelity.

We are pleased to announce that 33 of our New York and Washington D.C.-based C&G attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers this year across a wide range of practice areas. Super Lawyers also selected C&G co-founder Mark S Cohen and partners Jonathan S Abernethy and Daniel H Tabak to its list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partner Karen H Bromberg to its list of the top 50 women lawyers in the New York metropolitan area.

Christian R Everdell has been promoted to partner, and Joanna K Chan, Erica Lai, and David F Lisner have been promoted to counsel.

"Congratulations and thanks to each of these exceptional attorneys for their commitment to excellence, integrity, and superb client service. We are very fortunate to have them," said Managing Partner, Lawrence T Gresser.

We are pleased to announce that thirty of our New York and Washington, D.C.-based C&G attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers this year across a wide range of practice areas. Super Lawyers also selected C&G co-founders Mark S Cohen and Lawrence T Gresser to its list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partners Karen H Bromberg and Alexandra Wald as two of its top 50 women lawyers in New York. Super Lawyers ranks outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Fewer than five percent of all lawyers in the U.S. receive this honor.

Cohen & Gresser advised Reliance Trust Company, a corporate fiduciary, in its $14.5 million sale of 571 Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn to RedSky Capital. The complex deal spanned nine months and involved complicated lease issues as well as trust and estate and title issues originating in the 1930s. The sale of the property, which had been an asset in a trust for nearly 60 years, is a significant liquidity event for the beneficiaries. The property is also a key asset in RedSky Capital’s extensive redevelopment of Fulton Street. 

Partner Nicholas J Kaiser led the Cohen & Gresser team, which included Matthew V Povolny, David F Lisner, Eliza Sheridan, and paralegal Camille Delgado.

C&G welcomes the attorneys who joined the firm in 2017. "We’re very fortunate to have added these exceptional lawyers in New York and Paris," said Managing Partner, Lawrence T Gresser.  "We look forward to continuing to build our transactional and disputes practices in all of our offices in 2018."

Twice in the past month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unanimously announced consent decrees that are a strong signal of the current Commission’s intent to investigate private equity transactions aggressively.

• The consent decrees allow the private equity fund JAB Consumer Partners SCA SICAR's National Veterinary Associates to close two recent deals with some divestitures but also impose a series of strict prior notice requirements that are unprecedented in their breadth.
• The announcements come a month after the confirmation of a fifth commissioner that gave the Democrats a 3-2 majority on the FTC.
• As long as Democrats control the majority, private equity firms should be prepared for additional scrutiny and be cognizant of other competition issues that may impact them.

In this client alert, John Roberti, Melissa Maxman, Ronald Wick, David Lisner, and Derek Jackson discuss the potential implications of these rulings for private equity firms and offer insight into how PE firms can be more cognizant of competition and antitrust compliance issues that may pose a potential risk moving forward.  

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division is unlikely to be deterred by last week’s trial setbacks.

• Juries acquitted two sets of defendants of antitrust claims involving labor markets.
• The Antitrust Division will continue to pursue labor cases and has three more trials pending.
• The Division is willing to accept some losses in trials as a cost of taking a more aggressive enforcement position.

In this client alert, the authors summarize the recent setbacks, discuss the Division’s labor initiative, and conclude that more aggressive enforcement is on its way.

“Closing Argument: Suggestions for Effective Advocacy,” Hon. Raymond J. Dearie, David R. Marriott, and David Lisner

“Bilateral Trade Impacts of Temporary Foreign Visitor Policy,” Mahmut Yasar, David Lisner and Roderick M. Rejesus