Milwaukee-based law firm Quarles & Brady will pay $26.5 million and Greenberg Traurig will pay $61 million to settle a lawsuit against the two firms that accused them of assisting in an Arizona Ponzi scheme that cost investors $900 million, according to a Reuters report.
Quarles & Brady’s settlement received preliminary approval from U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone in Phoenix.
The settlements, disclosed in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, would end class action lawsuits that arose out of the alleged fraud and failure of Mortgages Ltd. Greenberg Traurig had advised the Arizona-based lender prior to its 2008 bankruptcy filing, while Quarles & Brady was counsel to a Radical Bunny LLC, which helped finance Mortgages Ltd.
Quarles & Brady in a statement said that while it “believes its conduct was at all times lawful and ethical,” it agreed to settle the case to avoid future expenses and uncertainty. The firm also said neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor Arizona securities regulators found any fault in the firm’s representation of Radical Bunny, according to the Reuters report.
