J. Alex Vargas


HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Vargas has been involved in several high-profile securities fraud cases, including one where he served as the principal investigator in connection with a 14-year litigation, resulting in the largest securities fraud settlement following a trial; a record $1.575 billion recovery in Jaffe v. Household Int’l, Inc., No. 02-C-05893 (N.D. Ill.).
  • In 2019, Mr. Vargas was named to Lawdragon’s prestigious list of 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers.

BIO:

Mr. Vargas is based in the Firm’s San Diego office and heads up our investigation department. He conducts and oversees investigations across all practice groups. Mr. Vargas has devoted over a decade of his career investigating claims on behalf of institutional investors and other stakeholders in the class action arena.

REPRESENTATIVE CASES:

RICO:

  • Styleform IT v. Facebook, Inc., et al., CGC-18-571075 (Cal. Super. Ct. S.F. Cty.) (2018)

Antitrust:

  • In re GSE Bonds Antitrust Litig., No. 1:19-cv-01704 (S.D.N.Y.) ($386.5 million settlement)
  • In re Cattle Antitrust Litig., No. 19-cv-1222-JRT-HB (D. Minn.)
  • In re Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litig., No. 1:13-cv-07789 (S.D.N.Y.)
    ($2.3 billion settlement)
  • Putman Bank v. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., No 1:19-cv-00439 (S.D.N.Y.)

Securities:

  • Banerjee v. Avinger, Inc., No. 4:17-cv-03400 (N.D. Cal.) ($5 million settlement)
  • Union Asset Management Holding AG v. SanDisk LLC, No. 3:15-cv-01455-VC (N.D. Cal.) ($50 million settlement)
  • In re LendingClub Corp. Shareholder Litig., No. CIV537300 (Cal. Super. Ct., San Mateo Cty) ($125 million settlement)
  • In re EndoChoice Holdings, Inc. Securities Litig., No. 2016-CV-277772 (Sup. Court, Fulton Cty., GA) ($8.5 million settlement)
  • In re MobileIron, Inc. Shareholder Litig., No. 1-15-cv-284001 (Cal. Super. Ct., Santa Clara Cty.) ($7.5 million settlement)
  • Rubenstein v. Oilsands Quest Inc., No. 11-cv-288 (S.D.N.Y.) ($10.2 million settlement)

Consumer and Data Breach:

  • In re Equifax, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litig., No. 1:17-cmd-2800 (N.D. Ga.) ($32.5 million settlement)
  • In re Pacific Coast Oil Trust Sec. Litig., No. BC550418 (Cal. Sup. Ct., Los Angeles Cty.) ($7.6 million settlement)
  • Greater Chautauqua Federal Credit Union v. Kmart Corp., No. 15-cv-2228 (N.D. Ill.) ($5.2 million settlement)
  • WinSouth Credit Union v. MAPCO Express, Inc., No. 14-cv-1573 (M.D. Tenn.) (largest dollar-per-card settlement obtained on behalf of financial institutions involving data breach of credit and debit card information)
  • First Choice Fed. Credit Union v. The Wendy’s Co., No. 2:16-cv-00506 (W.D. Pa.) ($50 million settlement)