Akin Secures Jury Trial Victory for Armistice Capital in a Case re: Section 16(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act
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(Washington, D.C. and New York) – Akin has secured a significant victory on behalf of Armistice Capital Master Fund Ltd. (Armistice Capital) at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in the case, Revive Investing LLC et al. v. Armistice Capital Master Fund Ltd. et al.
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, two stockholders of Aytu, filed a lawsuit in September 2021 under Section 16(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act claiming that Armistice Capital violated insider trading provisions by purchasing and selling shares of Aytu stock within a six-month window. Following a three-day jury trial with testimony from six witnesses, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding in favor of Armistice. This is only the second jury trial in the history of Section 16(b) litigation, and the first to yield a defense verdict.
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.
Additional support was provided by investment management partners Jason Daniel and William Wetmore; and litigation counsel Andrew McWhorter and Dakota Kann.
This win marks Akin’s second victory for Armistice Capital in a Section 16(b) case in the past year, winning summary judgment in Roth v. Armistice Capital in the Southern District of New York in March 2024.
Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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