An insurance company that saw its case against three former Dewey & LeBoeuf leaders stayed pending the outcome of a criminal case is now shifting its attention to two other executives, the American Lawyer reported today. Aviva Life and Annuity Co. alleges that Dewey’s former chief operating officer, Dennis D’Alessandro, and a former member of its executive committee, Richard Shutran, disseminated information that was “materially false and misleading” when the now-defunct law firm sold the insurance company $35 million in secured notes in 2010, according to a complaint filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Iowa. The plaintiffs claim that Dewey misrepresented the firm’s financial condition when it was preparing the note offering, which raised $150 million, according to the complaint. The suit alleges that Dewey overstated its cash flow by $30 million in 2008; that it delayed payments owed to retired partners; and that it hid the fact that it had huge guaranteed compensation agreements with certain partners. The Iowa-based insurance company first sought to bring its case against former Dewey chairman Steven Davis, former executive director Stephen DiCarmine and former chief financial officer Joel Sanders in December 2012. Read more.
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