Cozen O’Connor litigators Fred Jacoby and Joseph Dever recently obtained a complete victory in a $2 million FINRA securities arbitration in New York. Fred and Joe represented a regional broker-dealer firm that was involved in the sale of a private placement variable annuity that offered hedge funds as separate account investments. Two of the hedge funds that claimant selected had exposure to Ponzi schemes, including the Bernie Madoff scheme.  The claimant asserted that our client was liable for breaching its investor suitability and due diligence obligations. After eight hearing days, the Panel granted our motion to dismiss after claimant rested his case-in-chief.