Henry Brownstein’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country. He has represented hedge funds, private equity firms, financial institutions, individuals, and government agencies relating to complex financial products, financing, securities, corporate governance, and tax shelters. His practice includes advising investment funds on potential litigation and other issues relating to their investments, particularly with respect to complex financial products, securitizations, and securities.
Henry has been selected to the Super Lawyers Washington, DC Rising Stars list.
Work Highlights
- MBIA in a decade-long put-back action against Credit Suisse in which MBIA sought to recover for breaches of representations and warranties related to RMBS insured by MBIA. After a two-week bench trial in New York State Supreme Court, the court found that MBIA had convincingly proved that Credit Suisse breached its representations and warranties, and that Credit Suisse was liable for over $600 million in damages.
- DWS Parties, stakeholders in a commercial mortgage-backed securities trust administered by Wells Fargo, in a $770 million matter opposing the efforts of Bedford CMBS Acquisitions to obtain defaulted commercial mortgage-backed securities worth more than $200 million in a Wells Fargo Bank NA trust.
- Angelo Gordon, Waterfall Asset Management, One William Street, and Libremax Capital in contract and regulatory disputes concerning 15 Delaware statutory trusts that hold over $10 billion in student loans.
- W.C. Bradley in an action alleging fraud and breach of contract stemming from an implementation of SAP software.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in actions in federal and state courts against numerous financial institutions and individuals. The lawsuits sought rescission or damages from the banks for, among other things, their misrepresentations concerning pools of mortgage loans that underlie residential mortgage-backed securities the banks issued, securitized and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After prevailing on critical pre-trial issues, FHFA settled the actions brought by Kasowitz for over $2 billion, including a $1.25 billion settlement with Morgan Stanley.
- Cornwall Capital (featured in Michael Lewis’s The Big Short) in litigation against HSBC arising out of an ISDA credit-default swap referencing Bear Stearns; case settled favorably before discovery.
- ACA Financial Guaranty, a bond insurer, in its $120 million fraud suit against Goldman Sachs and hedge fund Paulson & Co. for fraudulently inducing ACA to issue a financial guaranty for Goldman’s ABACUS CDO by deceiving ACA about Paulson’s role and financial interest in the transaction. Kasowitz successfully argued the case before the New York Court of Appeals, creating precedent on the standards for reliance in fraud actions under New York law.
- Fortress Investment Group in litigation against AIG concerning the purchase of a pool of mortgage loans.
- An international bank in an action against AIG concerning collateralization obligations under cross-border lease transactions.
- A lender in a dispute with The Royal Bank of Scotland relating to Liverpool Football Club, which was sold to a group led by the owner of the Boston Red Sox.
- A leading financial institution in connection with federal RICO and common-law fraud claims brought by a California corporation that promoted and arranged certain tax shelter transactions disallowed by the IRS. Henry helped achieve summary dismissal of all claims, which came after discovery and motion practice, two weeks prior to the start of trial.
- Celanese in a products liability case. Henry helped achieve dismissal of all claims on personal jurisdiction grounds.
- Patriot National in an action in federal court by two hedge funds concerning the sale of securities in a private investment in public equity (“PIPE”) transaction.