Bill Gross Awarded $81 Million In PIMCO Lawsuit Settlement

Bill Gross and his former employer PIMCO announced that they have reached an amicable settlement of the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Mr. Gross in October 2015, under which Gross would reportedly be awarded $81 million.

In a statement regarding the settlement, Gross repeated that his lawsuit had never been about money. Although the settlement’s terms are confidential, Gross and PIMCO confirmed that any proceeds from the suit will be donated to charity, as Gross had promised since the beginning of the suit. “I’ve always been amazed by my success, and grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in the world. I’m glad that can continue today,” Mr. Gross noted.

As the WSJ adds, Gross intends to donate the proceeds to charity through his Bill and Sue Gross Family Foundation. Gross alleged that Pimco “wrongly and illegally” denied him hundreds of millions of dollars in earned compensation and damaged his reputation.

As a reminder, Gross abruptly left Pimco in September 2014 amid tensions with his colleagues, most notably Mohamed El-Erian, and in 2015 sued the manager for at least $200 million in damages, alleging he was forced out. Gross alleged that Pimco “wrongly and illegally” denied him hundreds of millions of dollars in earned compensation and damaged his reputation. “Driven by a lust for power, greed, and a desire to improve their own financial position and reputation at the expense of investors and decency,” the suit says, “a cabal” of Pimco “managing directors plotted to drive founder Bill Gross out of Pimco.”

Gross intends to seek a dismissal Monday in California Superior Court, the people said.

Regarding the lawsuit itself, Mr. Gross said in a statement that “PIMCO has always been family to me, and, like any family, sometimes there are disagreements. I’m glad that we have had the opportunity to work through those, and see the PIMCO founders receiving the recognition they deserve. I am honored to be included in their ranks and to know that PIMCO is in capable hands.”

Gross left Pimco in September 2014 for Janus Capital Group, where he manages money.

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Full press release below:

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bill Gross and Pacific Investment Management Company LLC announce that they have reached an amicable settlement of the lawsuit filed by Mr. Gross in October 2015.

In a statement regarding the settlement, Mr. Gross repeated that his lawsuit had never been about money. Although the settlement’s terms are confidential, Mr. Gross and PIMCO confirmed that any proceeds from the suit will be donated to charity, as Mr. Gross had promised since the beginning of the suit. “I’ve always been amazed by my success, and grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in the world. I’m glad that can continue today,” Mr. Gross noted.

Regarding the lawsuit itself, Mr. Gross said in a statement that “PIMCO has always been family to me, and, like any family, sometimes there are disagreements. I’m glad that we have had the opportunity to work through those, and see the PIMCO founders receiving the recognition they deserve. I am honored to be included in their ranks and to know that PIMCO is in capable hands.”

PIMCO recognizes the enormous contribution to its success made by Mr. Gross and its other founders and leaders, such as James Muzzy, William Podlich, Bill Thompson, Walter Gerken, and Chris Dialynas, the visionaries who created a global investment powerhouse, and an entire industry of fixed-income investments. Over the decades of their leadership and that of those following in their footsteps, PIMCO has helped its clients—including individual investors saving for retirement, pension plans, educational institutions, and charitable foundations and endowments—generate billions of dollars of investment returns. Additionally, through the leadership of the PIMCO Foundation, which was created and originally funded by Mr. Gross, PIMCO donates millions of dollars annually to ensure that communities throughout the world are empowered through education, health support, gender equity, and other programs vital for the connected 21(st) century.

PIMCO is also taking steps to ensure that the legacy and contributions of its founders, as both corporate and charitable citizens, are honored and preserved. To that end, PIMCO is dedicating a new  “Founders Room” in their honor at PIMCO’s Newport Beach headquarters. Additionally, the PIMCO Foundation is naming Mr. Gross a “Director Emeritus” and establishing an annual “Bill Gross Award” in recognition of his career-long dedication to the charitable endeavors that are at the heart of the Foundation’s mission.

“Bill Gross has always been larger-than-life,” said Dan Ivascyn, PIMCO’s Group Chief Investment Officer. “He has a well-deserved stellar reputation as an investor and a philanthropist. Bill has had an  enormous influence on PIMCO and the careers of many who have passed through its halls. He built this business from the ground up and we have great respect and admiration for his talents.”

The case was William H. Gross v. Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, et al., Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2015-00813636-CU-BC-CJC. Mr. Gross was represented by Patricia L.  Glaser, G. Jill Basinger and Rory S. Miller of Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro. PIMCO and Allianz Asset Management of America were represented by David Boies, Christopher E. Duffy, Scott R. Wilson, and Qian A. Gao of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.

Fannie, Freddie Plunge After Court Rules Hedge Funds Can't Sue

Moments ago, the stocks of the nationalized GSEs - Fannies and Freddie - tumbled by over 30%, after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that barred hedge funds from suing to overturn the U.S. government’s 2012 decision to capture billions of dollars in the profits generated by the mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after their bailout.

According to Bloomberg, which first reported the ruling, some Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors still have a shot at money damages, based on when they acquired their shares and whether they did so before or after the Federal Housing Finance Agency was created and then imposed its control over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They can pursue breach of contract claims, the appeals panel said in a split 2-1 decision Tuesday.

“It’s a little too early for me to announce what our response will be other than to say what these breach of contract claims were always the central claims in this case,” said Hamish Hume, a Washington-based attorney with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, who represented some of the prevailing shareholders.

In place since January 2013, the controversial net worth sweep allowed the U.S. to recapture all of the $187 billion in taxpayer money it spent to stave off the companies’ collapse during the global fiscal crisis and as of 2016, at least $56 billion more. All of that without reducing Treasury’s liquidation stake in either firm.

As Bloomberg adds, the court, which included two judges selected by Republican presidents and one picked by a Democrat, heard arguments on April 15. It later allowed additional friend-of-the-court briefs to be filed by allies on each side, solicited still more submissions concerning a jurisdictional question and permitted the investors’ filing of evidence produced in sweep-related cases pending before other courts. Their ruling may yet be subject to U.S. Supreme Court review.

The U.S. Treasury Department press office did not immediately reply to an e-mailed request for comment. David Thompson, an attorney for the suing Fairholme Funds Inc. did not immediately respond to a voice-mail message seeking comment.

The appellate decision follows Fannie Mae’s Nov. 3 report in which it said it made a $3.2 billion profit in the third quarter of 2016, the company’s 19th straight quarterly profit. Those profits were more than the $1.96 billion earned in the same quarter a year earlier. The company had said it would send $3 billion to the Treasury in December, bringing its total payments to $154.4 billion.

Two days earlier, the smaller Freddie Mac said it made a $2.3 billion profit during the third quarter of this year and would send the same amount to the U.S.

Sweep terms let the companies retain an annually diminishing capital buffer that phases out in 2018, meaning any losses later sustained will require one or both to draw on taxpayer funds.

Meanwhile, some prominent hedge funds investors - most notably Bill Ackman and Richard Perry -  have been actively pushing the government to revert to the GSE status quo, as existed prior to the 2008 bailouts, convinced it would unlock substantial stakeholder value. Today, however, that won"t be the case.