Contingencies - Legal Matters	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Contingencies - Legal Matters
Contingencies - Legal Matters	(19) Contingencies – Legal Matters The Company is presently engaged in discussions with the SEC staff regarding a possible resolution of an investigation relating to the operational features of the U.S. POSIT alternative trading system and access to U.S. POSIT data, together with certain related disclosures. With regard to the operational features of U.S. POSIT, the potential resolution is focused on: (i) the technological infrastructure supporting the matching engine from 2010 through mid-2014, which affected the ability of mainly clients engaged in low-latency trading to interact with other POSIT flow and (ii) a delay feature added in 2014 to ITG’s Liquidity Guard anti-gaming technology designed to prevent latency arbitrage by temporarily preventing day orders submitted by certain clients engaged in low-latency trading from interacting with day orders from other clients. The potential resolution is also focused on: (i) overbroad internal access to, and internal sharing of, U.S. POSIT data, (ii) between October 2010 and July 2015, the sharing of anonymized lists of the top 100 symbols executed in U.S. POSIT and the top 100 symbols sent to U.S. POSIT as immediate-or-cancel orders on the prior trading day mainly with clients or prospective clients engaged in low-latency trading, (iii) between June 2009 and November 2017, the sharing of a venue analysis report that contained up to 15 symbols (and associated aggregated, anonymized volume) executed in U.S. POSIT on the prior trading day with users of the Company’s algorithms and (iv) instances of sharing of anonymized U.S. POSIT execution information with clients. The Company has taken meaningful remedial actions during the course of the SEC’s investigation, including imposing additional limitations on access to U.S. POSIT data as well as enhancing POSIT’s Form ATS and other disclosures. While the Company is engaged in discussions with the SEC staff to resolve the investigation, there can be no assurance that these discussions will be successful. Based on recent discussions, the Company incurred a charge of $12.0 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 to establish an accrual for a potential settlement of this matter. The SEC staff has indicated that they will recommend this penalty amount to the Commission. The Company also incurred approximately $0.2 million in legal fees associated with this matter during the second quarter of 2018. Resolution of the matter is subject to further discussions with the SEC staff and agreement with the SEC staff on the terms of a settlement, which would be subject to review and approval by the Commission. The Company cannot predict the timing of any settlement or the ultimate resolution of the SEC investigation. It is possible that a materially higher amount than the amount accrued could be required to achieve a resolution of the matter. In addition, the Company cannot predict the impact that the matter may have on its business going forward. In addition to the above, the Company’s broker-dealer subsidiaries are subject to, or involved in, investigations and other proceedings by government agencies and self-regulatory organizations, with respect to which the Company is cooperating. Such investigations and other proceedings may result in judgments, settlements, fines, disgorgements, penalties, injunctions or other relief. Given the inherent uncertainties and the current stage of these inquiries, and the Company’s ongoing reviews, the Company is unable to predict the outcome of these matters at this time. The Company is not a party to any pending material legal proceedings other than claims and lawsuits arising in the ordinary course of business, except a putative class action lawsuit and a derivative action have been filed with respect to the Company and certain of its current and former directors and/or executives in connection with the Company’s announcement of the SEC matter described in the following paragraph (and other related actions could be filed). On August 12, 2015, the Company reached a final settlement with the SEC in connection with the SEC’s investigation into a proprietary trading pilot operated within AlterNet for sixteen months in 2010 through mid-2011. The investigation was focused on customer disclosures, Form ATS regulatory filings and customer information controls relating to the pilot’s trading activity, which included (a) crossing against sell-side clients in POSIT and (b) violations of Company policy and procedures by a former employee. These violations principally involved information breaches for a period of several months in 2010 regarding sell-side parent orders flowing into ITG’s algorithms and executions by all customers in non-POSIT markets that were not otherwise available to ITG clients. According to the terms of the settlement, the Company paid an aggregate amount of $20.3 million, representing a civil penalty of $18 million, disgorgement of approximately $2.1 million in trading revenues and prejudgment interest of approximately $0.25 million. In connection with the announcement of the SEC investigation regarding AlterNet, two putative class action lawsuits were filed with respect to the Company and certain of its current and former executives, which were consolidated into a single action captioned In re Investment Technology Group, Inc. Securities Litigation before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the defendants made material misrepresentations or omitted to disclose material facts concerning, among other subjects, the matters that were the subject of the SEC settlement regarding AlterNet and the SEC investigation that led to the SEC settlement. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages under the federal securities laws. On April 26, 2017, the court granted in part and denied in part the Company’s motion to dismiss the complaint and granted the plaintiff leave to file a motion to amend its complaint. On June 12, 2017, the plaintiff filed a motion to amend its complaint against certain of the individual defendants who were dismissed from the case in the court’s April opinion. On March 23, 2018, the court denied plaintiff’s motion to amend, thereby affirming its dismissal of certain of the individual defendants from the case. On April 19, 2018, the Company reached an agreement in principle to settle the consolidated securities class action lawsuit. In exchange for a release of claims and a dismissal with prejudice, the settlement includes a payment to class members of $18 million, which is well within the policy limits of, and is expected to be paid by, the Company’s insurance carrier. The condensed consolidated statements of financial condition as of June 30, 2018 include a payable to class members of $18.0 million in accounts payable and accrued expenses (also, see Note 11, Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses) that is fully offset by a receivable from the Company’s insurance carrier in other assets. As a result, the settlement is not expected to impact the Company’s results. The settlement reached is solely to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further protracted litigation and does not constitute an admission of liability by the Company or its current or former executives or directors. Specifically, the Company and its current and former executives and directors deny any liability or responsibility for the claims made and make no admission of any wrongdoing. The parties anticipate entering into a final settlement agreement outlining the complete terms of the settlement. The settlement is subject to certain conditions, including, among others, preliminary and final court approval and notice to the class of plaintiffs in the lawsuit. There is no assurance that a final settlement will be completed, court approval will be obtained or that class member participation will be sufficient. On November 27, 2015, a purported shareholder of the Company filed a shareholder derivative action captioned Watterson v. Gasser et al. against eleven current or former officers and directors of the Company in the Supreme Court for the State of New York. The Company is named as a nominal defendant, and the plaintiff purports to seek recovery on its behalf. The complaint generally alleges that the individual defendants breached their fiduciary duties to the Company in connection with the matters that were the subject of the SEC settlement regarding AlterNet. While the Company cannot predict the outcome of the derivative lawsuit, the Company intends to defend it as appropriate. No reserve has been established for the derivative lawsuit since the Company is unable to provide a reasonable estimate of any potential liability given the stage of the proceeding. The Company believes, based on information currently available, that the outcome of the derivative lawsuit will not likely have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position. In light of the inherent uncertainties of such proceeding, an adverse outcome may have a material impact on the results of operations for any particular period.

(19) Contingencies – Legal Matters

The Company is presently engaged in discussions with the SEC staff regarding a possible resolution of an investigation relating to the operational features of the U.S. POSIT alternative trading system and access to U.S. POSIT data, together with certain related disclosures.

With regard to the operational features of U.S. POSIT, the potential resolution is focused on: (i) the technological infrastructure supporting the matching engine from 2010 through mid-2014, which affected the ability of mainly clients engaged in low-latency trading to interact with other POSIT flow and (ii) a delay feature added in 2014 to ITG’s Liquidity Guard anti-gaming technology designed to prevent latency arbitrage by temporarily preventing day orders submitted by certain clients engaged in low-latency trading from interacting with day orders from other clients. The potential resolution is also focused on: (i) overbroad internal access to, and internal sharing of, U.S. POSIT data, (ii) between October 2010 and July 2015, the sharing of anonymized lists of the top 100 symbols executed in U.S. POSIT and the top 100 symbols sent to U.S. POSIT as immediate-or-cancel orders on the prior trading day mainly with clients or prospective clients engaged in low-latency trading, (iii) between June 2009 and November 2017, the sharing of a venue analysis report that contained up to 15 symbols (and associated aggregated, anonymized volume) executed in U.S. POSIT on the prior trading day with users of the Company’s algorithms and (iv) instances of sharing of anonymized U.S. POSIT execution information with clients.

The Company has taken meaningful remedial actions during the course of the SEC’s investigation, including imposing additional limitations on access to U.S. POSIT data as well as enhancing POSIT’s Form ATS and other disclosures.

While the Company is engaged in discussions with the SEC staff to resolve the investigation, there can be no assurance that these discussions will be successful. Based on recent discussions, the Company incurred a charge of $12.0 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 to establish an accrual for a potential settlement of this matter. The SEC staff has indicated that they will recommend this penalty amount to the Commission. The Company also incurred approximately $0.2 million in legal fees associated with this matter during the second quarter of 2018. Resolution of the matter is subject to further discussions with the SEC staff and agreement with the SEC staff on the terms of a settlement, which would be subject to review and approval by the Commission. The Company cannot predict the timing of any settlement or the ultimate resolution of the SEC investigation. It is possible that a materially higher amount than the amount accrued could be required to achieve a resolution of the matter. In addition, the Company cannot predict the impact that the matter may have on its business going forward.

In addition to the above, the Company’s broker-dealer subsidiaries are subject to, or involved in, investigations and other proceedings by government agencies and self-regulatory organizations, with respect to which the Company is cooperating. Such investigations and other proceedings may result in judgments, settlements, fines, disgorgements, penalties, injunctions or other relief. Given the inherent uncertainties and the current stage of these inquiries, and the Company’s ongoing reviews, the Company is unable to predict the outcome of these matters at this time.

The Company is not a party to any pending material legal proceedings other than claims and lawsuits arising in the ordinary course of business, except a putative class action lawsuit and a derivative action have been filed with respect to the Company and certain of its current and former directors and/or executives in connection with the Company’s announcement of the SEC matter described in the following paragraph (and other related actions could be filed).

On August 12, 2015, the Company reached a final settlement with the SEC in connection with the SEC’s investigation into a proprietary trading pilot operated within AlterNet for sixteen months in 2010 through mid-2011. The investigation was focused on customer disclosures, Form ATS regulatory filings and customer information controls relating to the pilot’s trading activity, which included (a) crossing against sell-side clients in POSIT and (b) violations of Company policy and procedures by a former employee. These violations principally involved information breaches for a period of several months in 2010 regarding sell-side parent orders flowing into ITG’s algorithms and executions by all customers in non-POSIT markets that were not otherwise available to ITG clients. According to the terms of the settlement, the Company paid an aggregate amount of $20.3 million, representing a civil penalty of $18 million, disgorgement of approximately $2.1 million in trading revenues and prejudgment interest of approximately $0.25 million.

In connection with the announcement of the SEC investigation regarding AlterNet, two putative class action lawsuits were filed with respect to the Company and certain of its current and former executives, which were consolidated into a single action captioned In re Investment Technology Group, Inc. Securities Litigation before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the defendants made material misrepresentations or omitted to disclose material facts concerning, among other subjects, the matters that were the subject of the SEC settlement regarding AlterNet and the SEC investigation that led to the SEC settlement. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages under the federal securities laws. On April 26, 2017, the court granted in part and denied in part the Company’s motion to dismiss the complaint and granted the plaintiff leave to file a motion to amend its complaint. On June 12, 2017, the plaintiff filed a motion to amend its complaint against certain of the individual defendants who were dismissed from the case in the court’s April opinion. On March 23, 2018, the court denied plaintiff’s motion to amend, thereby affirming its dismissal of certain of the individual defendants from the case.

On April 19, 2018, the Company reached an agreement in principle to settle the consolidated securities class action lawsuit. In exchange for a release of claims and a dismissal with prejudice, the settlement includes a payment to class members of $18 million, which is well within the policy limits of, and is expected to be paid by, the Company’s insurance carrier. The condensed consolidated statements of financial condition as of June 30, 2018 include a payable to class members of $18.0 million in accounts payable and accrued expenses (also, see Note 11, Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses) that is fully offset by a receivable from the Company’s insurance carrier in other assets. As a result, the settlement is not expected to impact the Company’s results. The settlement reached is solely to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further protracted litigation and does not constitute an admission of liability by the Company or its current or former executives or directors. Specifically, the Company and its current and former executives and directors deny any liability or responsibility for the claims made and make no admission of any wrongdoing. The parties anticipate entering into a final settlement agreement outlining the complete terms of the settlement. The settlement is subject to certain conditions, including, among others, preliminary and final court approval and notice to the class of plaintiffs in the lawsuit. There is no assurance that a final settlement will be completed, court approval will be obtained or that class member participation will be sufficient.

On November 27, 2015, a purported shareholder of the Company filed a shareholder derivative action captioned Watterson v. Gasser et al. against eleven current or former officers and directors of the Company in the Supreme Court for the State of New York. The Company is named as a nominal defendant, and the plaintiff purports to seek recovery on its behalf. The complaint generally alleges that the individual defendants breached their fiduciary duties to the Company in connection with the matters that were the subject of the SEC settlement regarding AlterNet.

While the Company cannot predict the outcome of the derivative lawsuit, the Company intends to defend it as appropriate. No reserve has been established for the derivative lawsuit since the Company is unable to provide a reasonable estimate of any potential liability given the stage of the proceeding. The Company believes, based on information currently available, that the outcome of the derivative lawsuit will not likely have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position. In light of the inherent uncertainties of such proceeding, an adverse outcome may have a material impact on the results of operations for any particular period.