Photo of Timothy W. Mungovan

Tim Mungovan is the immediate past chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, chair of the Securities Litigation practice and is currently a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. His practice is focused on securities, commercial litigation, governance, and bankruptcy-related matters. He has a national reputation for advising sponsors of private investment funds (hedge, private equity, private credit and venture capital) in a wide variety of matters, including litigation, governance, securities, fiduciary obligations, and regulatory enforcement.

Chambers USA describes Tim as “an extraordinary lawyer who is a fierce and very talented litigator. He is extremely knowledgeable, responsive and client-oriented.” Best Lawyers in America lauds Tim’s experience, integrity, work ethic, communications and courtroom skills. Tim has been listed in the “Top 100 Lawyers” in Massachusetts, and Benchmark Litigation has continually recognized Tim as a Litigation Star in Massachusetts.

Over the last six years, Tim has been the lead litigator representing the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in the historic restructuring of Puerto Rico’s debts. The scale and complexity of this restructuring has resulted in one of the most active litigation dockets in the U.S. Almost every aspect of the litigation involved matters of first impression in part because the restructuring is governed by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, which was enacted for Puerto Rico in 2016.  The track record of success speaks for itself:  in the more than 150 lawsuits filed, Tim and the Proskauer team have prevailed in almost 95% of the cases.

Tim is recognized nationally for his experience in private fund litigation and disputes, having focused on the industry for more than 25 years.  As part of that focus, Tim created and is the lead editor of Proskauer’s blog on Private Equity litigation, The Capital Commitment.

In late December 2020, the SEC filed a litigated action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executive officers (collectively, “Ripple”), alleging that Ripple raised over $1.3 billion in unregistered offerings of the digital asset known as

Private investment funds are likely to face increased regulatory scrutiny and litigation risk in 2016, not only based on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s focus on the industry but also due to transparency and compliance initiatives of limited partners and other market developments. We have highlighted several areas that should be on the top of every private fund sponsor’s list – and how to assess and manage the associated risks.

Private equity fund sponsors are facing increased litigation risk from regulators and private parties, including limited partners and stakeholders in portfolio companies.  As a result, private equity firms should re-examine their professional liability insurance policies to ensure that their coverage is properly aligned with this increasing risk. 

On November 3, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had reached a settlement with Fenway Partners, LLC, a New York-based private equity firm, and several of the firm’s executives (the Respondents) in connection with a failure to disclose conflicts of interests to investors with respect to payments made by portfolio companies of a private equity fund to certain affiliates and former employees of the firm. In settlement of the matter, the Respondents agreed to collectively disgorge approximately $8.7 million, and pay an approximately $1.5 million civil monetary fine.

Private equity funds, and individuals affiliated with fund sponsors, are increasingly being named as defendants in lawsuits involving their portfolio companies.  This litigation risk arises most frequently where a fund controls one or more board seats on the portfolio company, or where an individual affiliated with the fund sponsor serves as a senior executive at the portfolio company.

When a fund sponsor (or an individual affiliated with a fund sponsor) is named as a defendant in a lawsuit involving a portfolio company, the initial assessment of the claims, risks, insurance coverage, and indemnification rights is critical.   Some of the key questions for that early assessment are:

  1. What are the board designee’s indemnity rights?  Typically, the board designee has indemnity rights at multiple levels, including the portfolio company level, the fund level, and potentially the management company/sponsor level. The interplay between the rights at different levels, and the priority of the indemnitors’ obligations, requires careful assessment.  Also, it is important to understand that an indemnity right is subject to “credit risk,” as the indemnity is only as strong as the balance sheet of the indemnitor.

The public scrutiny on private equity fund sponsors has continued to intensify this month, evidenced by at least three recent events.

First, the government announced that it was probing performance figures at private equity funds: SEC Probing Private Equity Performance Figures. This focus on performance should not come as a surprise. Financial performance is what drives the industry. Moreover, the SEC has made it clear that private equity fund sponsors are a regulatory and enforcement priority. And if that weren’t enough, two separate academic white papers have raised questions about performance claims in the private equity industry. After the options backdating scandal a decade ago, the catalyst of which was an academic white paper, the SEC had no choice but to probe performance claims.

Originally published in the Venture Capital Review, 2014 edition.
 

Andrew J. Bowden, the Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, gave a speech entitled “Spreading Sunshine in Private Equity” in May 2014. While sounding cheery, the “spreading sunshine” metaphor was an ironic evocation of Justice Brandeis’s