BakerHostetler Urges Supreme Court to Close Eleventh Circuit RICO Securities Loophole

BakerHostetler represented pro bono client Washington Legal Foundation in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm filed the brief on Nov. 3, 2025, in Citigroup, Inc. v. Ottos Candies (No. 25-391), urging the Court to grant certiorari and reverse a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit declined to apply a provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that bars civil-RICO claims based on alleged federal securities violations, reasoning that the bar did not apply because the particular plaintiff lacked a viable securities fraud claim. BakerHostetler's brief argues the Reform Act prohibits such civil-RICO claims irrespective of an individual plaintiff’s ability to pursue claims under the federal securities laws. In support of Washington Legal Foundation, the brief contends the Eleventh Circuit's ruling conflicts with the text, legislative history, and judicial interpretation of the federal securities laws, including the Reform Act. The brief warns that permitting civil-RICO claims founded on deficient private securities claims would enable the weakest securities suits to be recast as treble-damage RICO actions, likely producing a proliferation of such claims in the Eleventh Circuit and elsewhere. The brief therefore urges the Supreme Court to review and reverse the Eleventh Circuit's decision. BakerHostetler represented Washington Legal Foundation with a team composed by: Douglas W. Greene, Partner, New York; Brian W. Song, Partner, New York; Bari R. Nadworny, Counsel, New York; Renee M. Knudsen, Associate, Washington, D.C.

BakerHostetler Urges Supreme Court to Close Eleventh Circuit RICO Securities Loophole

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