Commitments and Contingencies

Lease Obligations

The Company has entered into leases for office space and equipment. These leases contain rent escalation clauses. The Company records rent expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term, including any rent holiday periods. Rent expense was $4.6 million and $4.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 and $13.3 million and $12.5 million, for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

As of September 30, 2015, future minimum annual lease and service payments for the Company were as follows:



	Equipment Leases (a)		Service Payments		Facility Leases (b)
	(dollars in thousands)
2015	$	700	$	4,490	$	5,094
2016	2,502		12,391		19,401
2017	2,301		6,245		16,030
2018	2,221		4,162		15,621
2019	813		1,375		14,822
Thereafter	—		—		47,064
	$	8,537	$	28,663	$	118,032


(a)	Equipment Leases include the Company's commitments relating to operating and capital leases. See Note 14 for further information on the capital lease minimum payments which are included in the table.


(b)	The Company has entered into various agreements to sublease certain of its premises. The Company recorded sublease income related to these leases of $0.5 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 and $1.4 million and $1.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Clawback Obligations

For financial reporting purposes, the general partners of a real estate fund have recorded a liability for potential clawback obligations to the limited partners, due to changes in the unrealized value of the fund's remaining investments and where the fund's general partner has previously received carried interest distributions. The clawback liability, however, is not realized until the end of the fund's life. The life of the real estate fund's with a potential clawback obligation is currently in a winding-up phase whereby the remaining assets of the fund are being liquidated as promptly as possible so as to maximize value, however a final date for liquidation has not been set. The fund is currently winding-down and as of both September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, and the clawback obligation was $6.2 million.

The Company serves as the general partner/managing member and/or investment manager to various affiliated and sponsored funds. As such, the Company is contingently liable for obligations for those entities. These amounts are not included above as the Company believes that the assets in these funds are sufficient to discharge any liabilities.

Unfunded Commitments

As of September 30, 2015, the Company had unfunded commitments of $9.6 million pertaining to capital commitments in four real estate investments held by the Company, all of which pertain to related party investments. Such commitments can be called at any time, subject to advance notice. The Company, as a limited partner of the HealthCare Royalty Partners funds and also as a member of HealthCare Royalty Partners General Partners, has committed to invest $45.4 million in the Healthcare Royalty Partners funds which are managed by Healthcare Royalty Management. This commitment is expected to be called over a two to five year period. The Company will make its pro-rata investment in the HealthCare Royalty Partners funds along with the other limited partners. Through September 30, 2015, the Company has funded $36 million towards these commitments. In April 2013, the Company committed $1.0 million to Starboard Leaders Fund LP, which may increase or decrease over time, and, as of September 30, 2015, has funded $0.9 million towards this commitment. As of September 30, 2015, the Company has an unfunded commitment to Formation8 Partners Fund I, L.P. of $1.4 million. The remaining capital commitment is expected to be called over a one year period. As of September 30, 2015, the Company has an unfunded commitment to Formation 8 Partners Hardware Fund I, L.P. of $1.1 million. The remaining capital commitment is expected to be called over a one year period.

Litigation

In the ordinary course of business, the Company and its affiliates and subsidiaries and current and former officers, directors and employees (the "Company and Related Parties") are named as defendants in, or as parties to, various legal actions and proceedings. Certain of these actions and proceedings assert claims or seek relief in connection with alleged violations of securities, banking, anti-fraud, anti-money laundering, employment and other statutory and common laws. Certain of these actual or threatened legal actions and proceedings include claims for substantial or indeterminate compensatory or punitive damages, or for injunctive relief.

In the ordinary course of business, the Company and Related Parties are also subject to governmental and regulatory examinations, information gathering requests (both formal and informal), certain of which may result in adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, injunctions or other relief. Certain affiliates and subsidiaries of the Company are investment banks, registered broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, investment advisers or other regulated entities and, in those capacities, are subject to regulation by various U.S., state and foreign securities, commodity futures and other regulators. In connection with formal and informal inquiries by these regulators, the Company and such affiliates and subsidiaries receive requests, and orders seeking documents and other information in connection with various aspects of their regulated activities.

Due to the global scope of the Company's operations, and its presence in countries around the world, the Company and Related Parties may be subject to litigation, and governmental and regulatory examinations, information gathering requests, investigations and proceedings (both formal and informal), in multiple jurisdictions with legal and regulatory regimes that may differ substantially, and present substantially different risks, from those the Company and Related Parties are subject to in the United States.

The Company seeks to resolve all litigation and regulatory matters in the manner management believes is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders, and contests liability, allegations of wrongdoing and, where applicable, the amount of damages or scope of any penalties or other relief sought as appropriate in each pending matter.

In accordance with US GAAP, the Company establishes reserves for contingencies when the Company believes that it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. The Company discloses a contingency if there is at least a reasonable possibility that a loss may have been incurred and there is no reserve for the loss because the conditions above are not met. The Company's disclosure includes an estimate of the reasonably possible loss or range of loss for those matters, for which an estimate can be made. Neither a reserve nor disclosure is required for losses that are deemed remote.

The Company appropriately reserves for certain matters where, in the opinion of management, the likelihood of liability is probable and the extent of such liability is reasonably estimable. Such amounts are included within accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated statements of financial condition. Estimates, by their nature, are based on judgment and currently available information and involve a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the type and nature of the litigation, claim or proceeding, the progress of the matter, the advice of legal counsel, the Company's defenses and its experience in similar cases or proceedings as well as its assessment of matters, including settlements, involving other defendants in similar or related cases or proceedings. The Company may increase or decrease its legal reserves in the future, on a matter-by-matter basis, to account for developments in such matters. The Company accrues legal fees as incurred.

The following information reflects developments with respect to the Company's legal proceedings that occurred in the quarter ended September 30, 2015. These items should be read together with the Company's discussion in Note 18 "Commitments and Contingencies" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part IV and the Company's discussion set forth under Legal Proceedings in Part I, Item 3 of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014.

On May 28, 2014, Energy Intelligence Group, Inc. and Energy Intelligence Group UK (collectively, "EIG") filed a lawsuit against Cowen and Company, LLC in the United States Court for the Southern District of New York (Energy Intelligence Group, Inc. and Energy Intelligence Group UK v. Cowen and Company, LLC, No. 14-CV-3789). The complaint alleges copyright infringement based on alleged impermissible distribution of EIG's publication, Oil Daily, by Cowen and Company, LLC, and Dahlman Rose & Company, LLC, as Cowen's alleged predecessor-in-interest. EIG is seeking statutory damages based on alleged willful infringement of their copyrights. The Company intends to vigorously defend against this lawsuit. On November 12, 2014, the Company filed an answer and affirmative defenses to the EIG complaint. During the third quarter, the Company and EIG continued to engage in targeted discovery relating to the Company’s defense that it did not assume unknown liabilities of Dahlman Rose. On September 25, 2015, the Company filed its motion for partial summary judgment to dismiss certain of EIG’s claims relating to Dahlman Rose’s alleged copyright infringement. We expect the Company’s motion to be heard late in the fourth quarter, but we cannot predict when the Court will issue a decision. The case is in its preliminary stages, therefore the Company cannot predict the outcome at this time but does not currently expect this case to have a material effect on its financial position but it could have a material effect on the Company’s results of operations in a future period.