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by Baz Hiralal
According to a 10Q filing, "without admitting or denying" any of the Securities and Exchange Commissions' allegations of securities fraud, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC's chairman and CEO Philip Falcone settled for a two-year ban from the securities industry. He will be able to remain as CEO as he will not be barred from "owning or controlling" HCP or from "serving as an officer or director" of HCP, which has been filling redemption requests and is barred from raising new funds.
Falcone, who made his fortune betting on the implosion of housing market, was accused by the SEC in June of misappropriating client assets, market manipulation and betraying clients. Among the accusations, the SEC charged that Falcone fraudulently obtained $113.2 million from Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations Fund LP and misappropriated the proceeds to pay his personal taxes while previously banning redemptions from that fund.
HCP will pay $18 million in the settlement and be subject to an independent monitor. After the two-year ban, Falcone will be allowed to seek reinstatement by the SEC.
Peter J. Solomon Co. added Bradford W. Weinberg and Mark A. Boidman to its mergers and acquisitions group. Weinberg is a managing director specializing in the restaurant and food retail sectors, while Boidman is a director in the media, entertainment, communications and technology practice.
Weinberg spent six years at UBS, where he was a managing director in the global consumer products and retail investment banking group. He also worked at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Credit Suisse Group. Boidman spent the previous nine years at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers.
Ares Management LLC agreed to acquire AREA Property Partners LP, which invests in North America, Europe and India. Terms were not disclosed and the deal is subject to regulatory and investor approval. AREA chief executive Lee Neibart will become a senior partner and co-head of Ares Real Estate Group alongside John Bartling. AREA's William Benjamin will become a senior partner of Ares Real Estate Group and continue as head of Europe and India real estate.
William Mack, founder of AREA, will step down as chairman to focus on his family's real estate initiatives, investments and philanthropic pursuits. Richard Mack, North America CEO of AREA, will become a senior adviser to Ares Real Estate Group. After closing, Ares Real Estate will have about $8 billion of committed capital.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partners Russell Leaf, Jack Nusbaum, James Silk, Chris Peters and Jordan Messenger represented AREA Property Partners.
Dallas' Orix USA named Sean Gallary as managing director of Orix USA Asset Management Corp., investing its capital in asset management activities, including strategic acquisitions.
Gallary, based in New York, was a managing director for Asset Management Finance, a private investment firm majority-owned by Credit Suisse Group, which acquires stakes in traditional and alternative asset management firms. Since he joined AMF in 2006, he led all investments in privately held boutique asset management firms.
Before AMF, Gallary was a vice president in the investment banking group of Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP, handling mergers and acquisitions and capital financing transactions in the asset management and banking sectors. Previously, he worked in the asset management consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP recruited commercial and securities litigator John Dellaportas as a partner in New York. He was a partner in the trial practice at Duane Morris LLP, where he practiced since 2001. Dellaportas worked at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP from 1994 to 2001.
He successfully defended Bruce Bent Sr., Bruce Bent II and their investment advisory firm Reserve Management Co. and Resrv Partners Inc. in a securities fraud lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009. The Reserve Primary Fund, pitched as a safe investment, invested in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to the tune of about $785 million and "broke the buck" after investors pulled out in the wake of Lehman's bankruptcy. The father-and-son duo were cleared last year but Bent II was found liable for negligence.
Baker Botts LLP hired Washington- and New York-based international tax lawyer Don J. Lonczak and New York-based capital markets lawyer Bonnie A. Barsamian as partners. Lonczak and Barsamian joined from Shearman & Sterling LLP and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, respectively.
PwC US hired Sam G. Nazzaro as a director with the forensic services practice. Nazzaro joins from the Department of Justice's criminal division.
Microsoft Corp. made Amy Hood its chief financial officer, succeeding Peter Klein. Hood joined Microsoft in December 2002 and is CFO of its $24.1 billion business division. She played key roles the company's acquisitions of Skype Global Sarl for $8.5 billion and Yammer for $1.2 billion. Before joining Microsoft's investor relations group, she worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in investment banking and capital markets.
Berkshire Partners LLC enlisted Gideon Argov as an advisory director. Argov is director of J.M. Huber Corp., Beechcraft LLC, Servotronix and Energy Points. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Council of the Belfer Center at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Argov was previously CEO of Entegris Inc., a provider of materials and components to the semiconductor and electronics industries and was a managing director of Parthenon Capital. For nearly a decade, he was chairman and CEO of Kollmorgen, a factory automation and electro-optical systems provider.
Backing off the SEC fight, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC's chairman and CEO Philip Falcone settled for a two-year ban from the securities industry.
