SVB Chief Becker Hires Defense Lawyers in Securities Fraud Suit

Silicon Valley Bank Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker has hired defense lawyers for a shareholder suit accusing him and the bank of securities fraud.

(Bloomberg) — Silicon Valley Bank Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker has hired defense lawyers for a shareholder suit accusing him and the bank of securities fraud.

James Kramer and Alex Talarides, both San Francisco partners at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, are now representing Becker, according to a court filing in the shareholder case. It’s unclear if the two are also representing Becker in other matters, including probes of the bank’s failure by the Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve.

Both Kramer and Talarides declined to comment.

Last week, Becker and SVB Chief Financial Officer Daniel Beck were named as defendants in a securities fraud suit filed in federal court in San Jose, California. The suit was filed on behalf of an investor who bought SVB shares at what he argues were artificially inflated prices due to false statements made by the executives.

Separately, the Justice Department, SEC and Fed are examining issues around SVB’s collapse, including share sales by officers and the bank’s lack of a risk officer for much of 2022, according to people familiar with the matter. No one at the bank has been accused of wrongdoing and the investigations could end without charges or lawsuits being brought.

Kramer leads the securities litigation practice at Orrick and has defended both shareholder suits and SEC enforcement actions. He previously represented former Uber Technologies Inc. CEO Travis Kalanick and PayPal Inc., among other clients. Talarides is a securities litigation partner whose previous clients include Apple Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc.

SVB went into Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. receivership earlier this month after an attempted share sale by the company caused customers to begin pulling their funds, often at the urging of major venture capital firms.

The case is Vanipenta v. SVB Financial Group, 23-cv-01097, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

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