Barclays Says Cyber Squatters Running Bogus Lehman Brothers Site
Barclays Says Cyber Squatters Running Bogus Lehman Brothers Site
(Bloomberg Law) -- Barclays PLC told a Manhattan federal court on Friday that a group is using its trademarks to operate a fake Lehman Brothers website and offer fraudulent financial services.
“Ring-leader” Vladimir Sklarov and his team were previously blocked by another federal court from impersonating Rothschild & Co., the suit says. They are also involved in a similar scheme to impersonate Bear Stearns, and have wrongfully applied for trademarks related to other well-known firms, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Barclays purchased Lehman Brothers’ assets in 2008, including its trademarks.
The complaint says Sklarov, his shell companies, and two other individuals—Osman Qureishi and Jaitegh Singh—fraudulently offer securities-backed loans through the website shearsonlehmanbrothers.com.
The site uses language that would normally be used to describe Lehman Brothers, including that the firm “invented investment banking,” has “more than 100 years of industry practice,” and has “managed billions of dollars of client assets.”
The defendants also have allegedly masked the identity of the domain owner and made the site inaccessible from the U.S. to cover up their activities.
They also allegedly sent potential referral agents fake flyers for “Shearson Lehman Brothers” and published fake press releases about their “potential multi-million-dollar investments” using Barclays’ trademarks.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the defendants’ attempts to register Lehman Brothers-related trademarks, and they applied for similar marks in Andorra and Panama, the complaint says. Andorra allegedly awarded the defendants registrations for “Lehman Brothers” and “Shearson Lehman” in March.
According to the complaint, the defendants have also applied for trademark registrations in the U.S. and abroad covering famous finance names including Credit Suisse, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Andrew Carnegie, Warren Buffett Capital, and others.
And “despite Barclays’ multiple demands, Defendants have refused to cease and desist from, and instead have intentionally increased, their unlawful activities,” the complaint says.
Causes of Action: Federal false designation of origin, cybersquatting, and trademark dilution; New York trademark dilution, unfair competition, and deceptive trade practices.
Relief: Injunctive relief, damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
Response: Contact information for the defendants wasn’t immediately available.
Attorneys: Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman PC represent Barclays.
The case is Barclays PLC v. Sklarov, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:20-cv-08437, complaint filed 10/9/20.
To contact the reporter on this story: Blake Brittain in Washington at bbrittain@bloomberglaw.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rob Tricchinelli at rtricchinelli@bloomberglaw.com; Steven Patrick at spatrick@bloomberglaw.com
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.