Morgan Stanley, Goldman Prevail in Archegos-Tied Claims Appeal

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. escaped investors’ insider trading claims tied to Archegos Capital Management‘s $36 billion collapse in March 2021.

Archegos wasn’t an insider of the public companies in which those investors held shares, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said Tuesday. Thus the firm didn’t owe the companies a fiduciary duty, and the banks aren’t liable under an insider trading theory of as the firm’s “tippees.”.

The investors’ misappropriation theory fell short because as brokers dealing “at arms length,” banks didn’t owe fiduciary duties to Archegos, Judge Maria Araújo Kahn’s opinion said. ...