Alpari (US) dismisses “Last Look” legal action against Citi, Morgan Stanley
The “Last Look” action that the defunct FX broker filed against a number of leading banks has been dismissed.
There have been some surprising developments with regard to the legal action that now defunct FX broker Alpari (US) has filed against a number of major banks, including Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C).
Today, the counsel for Alpari (US) filed letters with the New York Southern District Court, informing it of the voluntary dismissal of the case without prejudice. At the moment of posting this article, two letters have been filed with the court – they concern the dismissal of the legal action against Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. There are a number of other banks targeted in the “Last Look” action and it is possible that the action against them will also be dismissed.
In the Letters concerning the cases against Citi and Morgan Stanley, Alpari (US) says that:
“Voluntary dismissal is proper because: (1) defendants have not filed an answer, a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment; (2) this dismissal will not bind or prejudice any party or member of the putative class, as the court has not considered or certified any class in this litigation thus far; and (3) this voluntary dismissal was entered into voluntarily by Plaintiffs with no promise or expectation of any payment of money or any consideration whatsoever. All parties to this litigation shall bear their respective costs.”
In its legal action against Citi, Alpari (US) claimed that from January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2016, Citigroup “used Last Look to reject millions of trades that would have been otherwise executed but for Citigroup reneging on its matched orders”.
Concerning Morgan Stanley, according to the allegations, the bank first used this intentional delay, its Last Look, on Matrix at least as early as 2009, and on Currenex as early as January 1, 2008. On Matrix, Morgan Stanley further applied Last Look to all API/FIX and ECN trades, as well as a portion of those customers using Morgan Stanley’s GUI.
All of the defendants were accused of breach of contracts on their proprietary trading platforms, breach of contracts on ECNs, as well as of unjust enrichment.
