New York investment bank Jefferies has lost the banker who led its controversial litigation-financing unit, which looks to profit off class-action settlements, The Post has learned.
Justin Brass, a managing director in the bank’s Special Situations Group, left the bank this week, according to two people familiar with the move. Sarah Lieber, a senior vice president who worked for Brass, also left the bank earlier this month, the person said.
Brass and Lieber have joined Stifel Nicolaus as managing directors and co-heads of the rival bank’s litigation financing group, Neil Shapiro, a spokesman for the investment bank, confirmed to The Post.
Both of them came from Burford Capital, which specialized in the legal banking practice known as litigation financing, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Brass and Lieber were part of the group at Jefferies that explored profiting indirectly off the long-delayed settlements to NFL players who suffer from concussions, The Post reported in 2017.
The bank was looking to finance third-party companies, at interest rates up to 22 percent, that would have bought up the claims, but didn’t go through with any deals, The Post reported. At the time, the bank denied it was exploring such deals.
Justice Department prosecutors have investigated smaller firms for the practice, according to the New York Times. There’s no indication that Jefferies or Stifel have done anything wrong.
Litigation finance is one of Jefferies’ “strongest businesses,” and there are no plans to curb the business, according to a person familiar with Jefferies’ plans.
NFL players have been selling their settlements for about 50 cents on the dollar, in part because the payout from the class-action settlement had been dragging on for years and medical bills were piling up.
Richard Khaleel, a Jefferies spokesman, declined to comment.