BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LexShares, an online platform for litigation finance, announced today that the plaintiff-relator in US ex rel. Jennifer Perez v. Stericycle, Inc, et al, utilized the platform to raise necessary funding during her whistleblower case, which resulted in a $28.5 million settlement.
In the qui tam case filed in 2008, Jennifer Perez alleged that her former employer Stericycle, the publicly traded medical waste disposal company, defrauded various government customers by withholding accurate pricing data, adding unallowable charges to each bill, and concealing its intent to add these 18% increases which occurred every 9 months. LexShares’ investors provided capital to the relator in early 2015 and Stericycle settled the case for $28.5 million in late 2015.
“This is an example of how litigation finance can be a win-win for both plaintiffs and investors,” said LexShares Co-founder and CEO Jay Greenberg. “Ms Perez had quick access to much-needed non-recourse capital, and LexShares investors who participated were rewarded with a 93% annualized return on their investment.”
An investor in the case, James Downey of Downey and Company LLP, commented on his participation, “I was drawn to investing in litigation through LexShares due to the strong historical track record of the LexShares team, and the fact that litigation as an asset class is uncorrelated from other investments in my portfolio; case outcomes are insulated from macroeconomic factors outside the legal process.”
Greenberg, formerly part of Deutsche Bank’s technology investment banking group, founded LexShares with attorney Max Volsky, a pioneer in litigation finance and the author of Investing in Justice. Volsky has overseen more than 10,000 investments in legal claims since 1999 and is the founder of litigation finance fund LexStone Capital and co-founder of LexShares.
“Financing can be key to the success of a lawsuit. Large companies often have an unfair advantage because they have virtually unlimited access to legal resources that individuals or smaller companies do not,” explains Volsky, who is Chief Investment Officer at LexShares. “Our mission is to even the playing field while providing our investors with the opportunity for outsized returns that are uncorrelated to market forces.”
About LexShares
LexShares is an online platform for investing in legal claims, typically referred to as litigation finance or litigation funding. It connects plaintiffs in commercial legal disputes with investors to fund their cases. LexShares targets a broad range of commercial legal claims at all stages of litigation. It operates using best practices in ethics and professional responsibility. All legal claim investment opportunities posted on LexShares are curated by its legal and securities professionals and are offered through WealthForge, LLC, a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA / SIPC. Testimonials in this press release are not necessarily representative of the experience of other customers and are not a guarantee of future success. For more information, visit www.lexshares.com.
