Pomerantz partner Emma Gilmore is a powerful player in high-stakes, high-profile class action securities litigation, as well as a strong advocate for women’s rights.
Emma’s recent victories include leading a successful securities class action against financial powerhouse Deutsche Bank AG and its top executives. The suit alleged that the Bank habitually waived any meaningful due diligence for its high-net-worth clients— including former financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—while falsely representing that it had robust anti-money-laundering and Know Your Customer policies in place. Even after learning that 40 underage girls had testified that Epstein had sexually assaulted them, Deutsche Bank maintained Epstein as a preferred client because he was generating millions in fees and referrals for the Bank.
When corporations settle allegations of misconduct in securities litigations, the individuals responsible for those misdeeds are rarely named. This places the blame on a faceless institution rather than on decisions made by persons in positions of power. When individual wrongdoers bear no discernible consequences, there is an astonishing rate of recidivism. At Deutsche Bank, history kept repeating itself—until Emma and her team took the Bank on.
In 2023, Emma secured final approval of a settlement with Deutsche Bank, John Cryan (the Bank’s former CEO), and Christian Sewing (the Bank’s current CEO) that recoups nearly 50% of estimated damages for investors—extraordinarily high for a securities class action. She demonstrated that corporations—and their executives—can be held accountable by their shareholders for poor governance, particularly concerning #MeToo and other ESG issues.
In May 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted preliminary approval to a $74 million settlement for defrauded investors in Arconic, Inc. The allegations concern the U.S. company’s public statements about the safety of its insulation panels, which were implicated in the deadly June 2017 fire in Grenfell Tower in London, UK. At the preliminary approval hearing, Judge Mark R. Hornak stated, “… based on the Court’s experience and study and examination, we have some of the most sophisticated and experienced securities litigators, at a minimum, in the United States, if not broader, on each side of this case.”
Emma co-led the Firm’s class action litigation against Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, which arose from a multi-billion-dollar kickback and bribery scheme and resulted in a record-breaking $3 billion settlement for defrauded investors after years of hard-fought litigation. The settlement stands to this day as the fifth-largest securities class action recovery ever achieved in the United States. During the Petrobras litigation, Emma played an instrumental role in securing ground-breaking precedents, which significantly expanded investors’ rights, at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Emma serves on Pomerantz’s Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Committee. In that role, she advances diversity, equity, and non-discrimination at the Firm via its hiring and human resources policies, monitors the implementation of those policies, and ensures that employees have fair recourse if they feel those policies have been breached.
Updated Sep 2023
