Kyros Law, which is based in Boston, has recently opened a new office in Athens under John Kyriakopoulos, the former managing director of Greece’s largest public pension institution, the Hellenic Pension Mutual Fund Management Company (HPMF).

Class action

In May Mr Kyriakopoulos was appointed to lead a class action against the National Bank of Greece by OSPA, the union representing nearly 3,000 workers of Olympic Airlines. OSPA sued the bank for structuring severance packages comprised of 70 per cent in Greek government bonds, which lost more than half of their value following the 2012 restructuring of Greek’s sovereign debt. Mr Kyriakopoulos is seeking to prove negligence in the selling of the bonds to public investors.

Investor-driven litigation

Under a joint agreement, G&E and Kyros Law will team up to work on investor-driven litigation coming in and out of Greece, including matters stemming from the country’s recent economic meltdown.  In a statement Mr. Kyriakopoulos said: “We’re thrilled to form an alliance with Grant & Eisenhofer, one of the world’s preeminent litigation firms on behalf of investors and shareholders.’ He added: ‘ Our new collaboration is an historic step for advancing the rights of investors in Greece, who have been battered in recent years and have had scant remedies or even avenues through which to pursue recovery.”

Coalition of global investors

Grant & Eisenhofer regularly represents European and international institutional investors. The firm led a coalition of global investors – more than 50 institutions in Europe, Australia and elsewhere – in successfully bringing a securities class action in the Netherlands against Royal Dutch Shell, which was accused of vastly overstating its oil reserves in financial disclosures.The unprecedented action led to a payment of more than $500 million from the oil giant– the largest securities fraud settlement ever in Europe. G&E has litigated major shareholder cases in Germany, France and the UK.  

Parmalat action

In another noteworthy cross-border case, the firm represented Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, Ltd. as lead plaintiff in a class action arising out of a multi-billion dollar fraud at Italian dairy Parmalat, which the SEC described as “one of the largest and most brazen corporate financial frauds in history.” Settlements were reached with Parmalat, two investment banks, auditors and other defendants totaling over $110 million.