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Chadbourne Ruling Lets Madoff Investors Add State Claims

A group of investors burned by Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme were given a green light Monday to add state-law claims to their class action in New York federal court, marking one of the first applications of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that clarified when such suits aren’t barred under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act. U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa also raised the possibility that accounting firm KPMG LLP could be reinstated as a defendant in the longstanding suit against Tremont Group Holdings Inc. The investors’ suit, which is part of a multidistrict litigation by alleged Ponzi scheme victims, accuses the Rye, N.Y., hedge fund of misrepresenting how and to what extent it was placing investor funds into Madoff’s hands. The bulk of Judge Griesa’s 10-page opinion was keyed off of the Supreme Court’s February ruling in Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice, which exposed law firms to claims made by victims of convicted Ponzi schemer R. Allan Stanford. More on Law360 here.

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