Assisted various experts retained by the Italian government in connection with its claim that a multinational bank had knowingly participated with insiders to defraud the company and its investors by structuring transactions as equity rather than debt, contributing to the largest bankruptcy in European history and referred to as the “Enron of Europe.”

Work included an analysis of five complex financing transactions structured by the bank to avoid debt recognition by the Italian food and dairy giant.  The financing transactions involved the use of special purpose entities (“SPEs”); receivable securitization programs; tax-structured financings; “put” and operating agreements for unwinding; speculative derivative transactions designed by Citigroup to operate as short-term loans without reporting the  obligation; and related financial statement disclosures.