Regina L. Griffin

Partner

New York

T +1.212.589.4276

F +1.212.589.4201

rgriffin@bakerlaw.com

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Overview

For more than 22 years, Regina Griffin has focused her practice on commercial litigation, specifically on litigation arising out of corporate insolvencies.

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Counsel for the global representation of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) in connection with one of the largest financial frauds in recorded history. Leads multiple legal teams in international investigations and litigation in the worldwide asset recovery initiative, seeking recoveries from hedge funds, funds of funds, investment banks, other financial institutions and fiduciaries. As of December 2013, the SIPA Trustee and his legal teams have recovered or entered into agreement to recover more than $9.5 billion and have distributed more than $4.883 billion to BLMIS customers with allowed claims. Combined with $811 million in cash advances from the SIPC to speed some financial relief to BLMIS customers with allowed claims, more than $5.597 billion has been returned to victims. (For more information on the liquidation, visit www.madofftrustee.com.)
Represented a syndicate of financial institutions and advised regarding rights as secured creditors in connection with the high-profile, half-billion-dollar bankruptcy of the failed remediator of New Jersey Meadowland landfills.
Represented the Chapter 11 trustee of a former electronic brokerage company in successful prosecution of complex fraudulent conveyance claims and dozens of other multifaceted litigations, which led to the recovery of more than $75 million in assets and 90 percent distribution to creditors.

Counsel for the global representation of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) in connection with one of the largest financial frauds in recorded history. Leads multiple legal teams in international investigations and litigation in the worldwide asset recovery initiative, seeking recoveries from hedge funds, funds of funds, investment banks, other financial institutions and fiduciaries. As of December 2013, the SIPA Trustee and his legal teams have recovered or entered into agreement to recover more than $9.5 billion and have distributed more than $4.883 billion to BLMIS customers with allowed claims. Combined with $811 million in cash advances from the SIPC to speed some financial relief to BLMIS customers with allowed claims, more than $5.597 billion has been returned to victims. (For more information on the liquidation, visit www.madofftrustee.com.)
In connection with her role as a lead attorney representing the Securities Investor Protection Act Trustee for the liquidation of BLMIS, as court-appointed counsel, was co-lead counsel in Picard v. Katz, a case against the owner of the New York Mets, which settled on the eve of trial. On June 1, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a $162 million settlement agreement between the SIPA Trustee and Saul B. Katz et al., which allows the BLMIS Customer Fund to recoup six years of fictitious profits.
Was involved in the litigation and outcomes leading to the following reported decisions:
- In re Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (In re Madoff Secs.), SIPC v. Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Sec. LLC (In re Madoff Secs.),—F. Supp. 2d—No. 12-MC-00115 (JSR), 2013 WL 6301085 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 5, 2013).
  By Order dated Aug. 22, 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff ordered consolidated briefing on motions to dismiss filed in several dozen fraudulent transfer cases brought by the Trustee. Two separate groups of subsequent transferee defendants argued that under Section 550 of the Bankruptcy Code, the Trustee's claims against them were barred. By Decision and Order dated Dec. 5, 2013, the court denied the motions to dismiss both groups of subsequent transferees. The district court rejected the argument made by the first group of subsequent transferee defendants that Section 550(a) of the code requires the Trustee to first obtain a judgment of avoidance against the initial transferee before proceeding to recover against subsequent transferees. Rather, the court found that the Trustee merely must establish that an initial transfer was "avoidable" in recovery proceedings against subsequent transferees. Judge Rakoff also rejected another argument by the second group of subsequent transferee defendants that any recovery action must be brought against them under the two-year statute of limitations set forth in Section 546 of the code, rather than the time set forth in Section 550.
- Picard v. Bureau of Labor Insurance, 480 B.R. 501 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2012).
  In the Bureau of Labor Insurance case, the defendant moved to dismiss on an issue that presented a matter of first impression in the courts. The defendant claimed that the Trustee's claims against it – a foreign recipient of fraudulent transfers – required an extraterritorial application of the Bankruptcy Code, which was prohibited under the Supreme Court's decision in Morrison v. Nat. Australia Bank Ltd., 130 S.Ct. 2869 (2010). By Decision and Order dated Oct. 11, 2012, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Burton Lifland denied the defendant's motion, holding, among other things, that the Trustee's fraudulent conveyance claims against recipients of fraudulent transfers who reside outside the United States do not involve an extraterritorial application of the code – and that, even if they did, Congress had clearly indicated its intent that the Bankruptcy Code's avoidance and recovery provisions apply extraterritorially.
Represented a syndicate of financial institutions and advised regarding rights as secured creditors in connection with the high-profile, half-billion-dollar bankruptcy of the failed remediator of New Jersey Meadowland landfills.
Represented the Chapter 11 trustee of a former electronic brokerage company in successful prosecution of complex fraudulent conveyance claims and dozens of other multifaceted litigations, which led to the recovery of more than $75 million in assets and 90 percent distribution to creditors.
Represented the litigation trustee of a former leading language-recognition software company worth nearly $900 million in connection with federal and common law claims assigned to a litigation trust, which arose out of the client's fraudulently induced merger with a then-leading Belgian voice recognition and translation company.
Represented a leading property development and management firm in connection with insolvency of retailer-tenants in more than a dozen shopping center properties.