Akin Jury Trial Victory Receives Litigator of the Week Shout-out from The American Lawyer

An Akin trial team has earned a Litigator of the Week “shout-out” from The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily. The Akin team was led by investment funds litigation head Doug Rappaport, white collar defense & government investigations co-head Chuck Connolly and litigation partners Jacqueline Yecies and Kate Shapiro and included litigation counsel Richard D’Amato and Michael Chen and associate Sean Larner. 

The team is recognized for securing a significant win on behalf of Armistice Capital Master Fund Ltd. (Armistice Capital) at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. On January 29, 2025, a Denver federal jury unanimously found Armistice Capital exempt from a law that would require it to return $11 million in profits from the short-swing trades of Aytu BioPharma’s stock (Aytu). The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit under Section 16(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act accusing Armistice of violating insider trading provisions by purchasing and selling shares of Aytu stock within a six-month window. This is only the second jury trial in the history of Section 16(b) litigation, and the first to yield a defense verdict. 

Further information on the trial win can be found here.  

Additional support to the trial team was provided by investment management partners Jason Daniel and William Wetmore; and litigation counsel Andrew McWhorter and Dakota Kann.