Milbank has successfully represented former Chief Executive Officer, Frederico Pinheiro Fleury Curado, and current Chief Financial Officer, Jose Antonio de Almeida Filippo, of Embraer S.A., by securing a dismissal of a class action complaint filed in a federal court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint asserted federal securities fraud claims against Embraer and the individual defendants, alleging principally that defendants committed fraud by disclosing only that investigations into allegations of FCPA violations were underway and failed to disclose the scope and potential financial ramifications.
On April 2, 2018, Judge Richard M. Berman issued a 24-page opinion dismissing the complaint with prejudice, and agreeing with the defendants that "Embraer complied with its disclosure obligations" throughout the class period. The court held that defendants "persuasively argue" that they were not required to disclose details of the FCPA violations and admit to uncharged wrongdoing. The court also held that allegations against a senior executive, derived from an agreement between Embraer and regulators had "nothing to do with Class Period internal controls or demonstrating that Embraer's internal controls were deficient."
Finally, the court found that Embraer's financial statements were literally accurate, rejecting the argument that defendants failed to identify in revenue in Embraer's financial statements that was derived from the alleged scheme.
The Milbank team was led by Litigation partners Daniel Perry, Scott A. Edelman, and Jed Schwartz with Litigation associate Amina Akram.