Rachel S. Fleishman
Rachel S. Fleishman is a partner at Reid Collins & Tsai, resident in the Firm’s New York Office. Rachel has broad experience litigating complex commercial disputes in federal and state courts, including representing investment funds, real estate developers, litigation trusts, and other fiduciaries in pursuing negligence, fraud, and breach of contract claims against law firms, banks, accounting firms, and former officers and directors.
Prior to joining the firm, she was a partner at Milberg Weiss, where she litigated securities fraud class actions and high-profile cases, including a case against a major accounting firm related to the sale and marketing of abusive tax shelters that resulted in a settlement valued at over $200 million.
Rachel has been recognized as a premier litigator by noted long-form periodical Lawdragon, which has named her to both its “500 Leading Litigators in America” and “500 Leading Plaintiff Lawyers in America” lists. In New York, she consistently earns top-tier recognition, including selection by Legal 500 for its New York City Elite rankings and annual inclusion as a Thomson Reuters Super Lawyer in Business Litigation (Metro New York).
Rachel is a former member of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics. She is also a member of the ABA’s Section on Litigation, where she is a past Co-Chair of the Class Actions and Derivative Suits Subcommittee and the New York State Bar Association.
Notable Representations:
- Representing the Chapter 7 Trustee of the Agape estate in fraudulent transfer litigation against six futures commission merchants. The former principal of Agape operated a Ponzi scheme in Long Island, where he raised money from investors for the ostensible purpose of making short-term real estate loans but in, reality, he used approximately $80 million of investor money to open futures trading accounts with various Chicago firms. Settlements to date total more than $17M.
- Representing the SEC Receiver appointed to recover assets in connection with the second-largest Ponzi scheme in Minnesota history in a $47.5 million fraudulent transfer claim against a futures commission merchant.
- Representing the new management of a so-called “Chinese reverse merger company” that ceased operations in 2012 after fraud and theft by prior management were discovered. This public company asserted multi-million-dollar legal malpractice claims against its former outside counsel, which represented the company from the time it began trading in the U.S. until a new board of directors took control of the company. The case resulted in a confidential settlement.
- Representing the Special Committee of a Board of Directors investigating the merits of derivative claims alleging the company had paid an inflated sum to purchase resort hotels in an interested director transaction.
- Defending a family of hedge funds in litigation brought by the funds’ former head trader. Rachel obtained summary dismissal of most of the claims in the action and settled the remaining claims on favorable terms for her client.