Benjamin Reichard enjoys a diverse practice, including international arbitration, securities arbitration, construction disputes, environmental law, and general commercial litigation. He heads the firm’s international arbitration practice.
Ben’s international arbitration practice is centered in the area of investor-state arbitration. He is currently serving as lead counsel representing contractors, developers, financial consortiums, and individual investors in confidential arbitrations against sovereign nations arising out of multi-hundred-million-dollar large-scale construction, infrastructure, and industrial development projects, as well as disputes relating to government malfeasance and failure to protect individual investors’ interests.
Ben also was among the group of lead counsel for investors defrauded in R. Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme. In their lawsuit, investors alleged that five banks aided and abetted or knowingly participated in the scheme. Settlements totaling $1.6 billion were reached with five bank defendants on the eve of trial. (Rotstain, et al. v. Trustmark National Bank, et al., Case No. 09-2384, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas). He also has represented individual investors in state court for third-party liability claims arising out of Ponzi schemes. (P.K. Scheerle, et al. v. Omni Bancshares, Inc., et al., Case No. 667443, Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans).
Most recently, Ben is part of the Fishman Haygood team that filed a sweeping class action lawsuit on behalf of FTX customers in federal court in Miami, Fla. The most comprehensive filing to date, the lawsuit seeks to recover damages in the form of investment losses against the banks, venture capital firms, accounting firms, and law firm that allegedly aided and abetted FTX founder Samuel Bankman-Fried and his company in a scheme to defraud customers out of billions of dollars and crypto assets.
In other arbitration matters, Ben has served as counsel for individual investors for their investment-related losses (Marquette, et al. v. Pershing, LLC, FINRA Matter No. 11- 0669). He has represented community banks and boutique hedge funds in disputes against larger financial conglomerates involving prime brokerage and accounting malpractice (Vault Global Opportunities, LP, et al. v. UBS Securities, LLC & UBS, AG, FINRA Matter No. 10-01886; Vault Global Opportunities, LP, et al. v. J.D. Clark & Co., et al., Case No. 650616, Supreme Court of the State of New York) as well as improper investment advice (Metropolitan Bank Group, Inc., et al. v. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, et al., FINRA Matter No. 11-00237). Additionally, Ben has represented venture capital groups in energy-related disputes both in federal court and in arbitral forums (Peaker Energy Group, et al. v. Cargill, et al. USDC EDLA Case No. 14-2106; XTnrgy Louisiana, LLC v. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, AAA Case No. 011500047173).
Updated Sep 2023
