Ian W. Sloss

Digital Currency Group Securities Fraud Litigation (McGreevy v. DCG et al), No. 23-cv-00082-SRU (D. Conn.)(J. Underhill). Ian and SGT serve as court-appointed co-lead counsel for a putative class of securities investors who loaned cryptocurrency to Genesis Global Capital, the digital asset lender controlled by Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its founder, Barry Silbert. Plaintiffs allege that DCG, Silbert, and other executives concealed Genesis’s insolvency through sham financial transactions, including a $1.1 billion promissory note that supplied no new capital, while enabling insiders to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars before Genesis collapsed. Following SGT’s initial filings, the New York Attorney General brought a related fraud action against DCG, Silbert, and others. In January 2025, DCG agreed to pay a $38 million civil penalty, and former Genesis CEO Michael Moro agreed to pay $500,000, to settle SEC charges that they misled investors about Genesis’s financial condition. 

On February 24, 2026, Judge Stefan R. Underhill denied defendants’ motions to dismiss the federal securities claims, holding that plaintiffs adequately alleged that the Genesis investment program constituted a security and that defendants participated in securities-law violations. The court found that the allegations supported a strong inference of intent to defraud investors and lifted the discovery stay. 

Westminster, Massachusetts PFAS Contamination Litigation. Ian leads the litigation for SGT, the court-appointed interim lead class counsel in Ryan et al. v. The Newark Group, Inc. et al., No. 4:22-cv-40089 (D. Mass.), before Judge Margaret R. Guzman. The action seeks compensation and medical monitoring for Westminster residents whose drinking water and properties were allegedly contaminated with PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” through decades of waste disposal at the MassNatural composting facility.

The case produced a first-of-its-kind ruling allowing federal racketeering claims to proceed over PFAS contamination from commercial composting. In December 2023, plaintiffs defeated motions to dismiss their RICO claims against MassNatural, Otter Farm, and Seaman Paper, preserving claims for treble damages based on allegations that the companies used the composting operation to evade environmental requirements and proper disposal costs. Plaintiffs also sustained claims against 3M and The Newark Group. They later expanded the litigation to include New England Fertilizer Company (NEFCO) and its general partners, defeating their motions to dismiss negligence and medical-monitoring claims in 2025. Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification is pending.

Firefighter Turnout Gear PFAS Litigation. Ian was appointed interim co-lead class counsel alongside SGT partner Jennifer Sclar and co-counsel in City and County of Butte-Silver Bow et al. v. 3M Company et al., No. 2:25-cv-00036 (D. Mont.), a nationwide class action on behalf of municipalities and fire departments that purchased firefighter protective equipment containing PFAS. Plaintiffs allege that chemical and equipment manufacturers, including 3M, DuPont, and W.L. Gore, concealed the dangers of PFAS in turnout gear while marketing it for firefighters’ protection. The action seeks compensation for the purchase and replacement of the allegedly defective equipment.

In appointing Ian and the leadership team in May 2026, Judge Brian Morris recognized their work investigating and advancing the claims and their experience in complex litigation. The court had previously denied defendants’ initial motions to dismiss, allowing federal racketeering and state-law claims to proceed. The case was transferred to the federal firefighter turnout gear multidistrict litigation in Minnesota in August 2026.

Dividend Solar Finance and Fifth Third Bank Solar Lending Litigation. Ian serves as court-appointed interim co-lead counsel in In re Dividend Solar Finance, LLC, and Fifth Third Bank Sales and Lending Practices Litigation, MDL No. 3128, before Judge Katherine M. Menendez in the District of Minnesota. The nationwide litigation challenges the concealment of “platform fees” in solar loans marketed to homeowners as low-interest financing. Plaintiffs allege that Dividend inflated borrowers’ loan balances with these fees, retained money represented as payments to installers, and understated the true cost of credit. The challenged loans, including the allegedly unlawful fees embedded in them, are estimated to total hundreds of millions, potentially billions, of dollars.

In August 2025, plaintiffs defeated Fifth Third’s motion to dismiss their Truth in Lending Act and fraud claims. The court held that the platform fees, as alleged, fell within the statutory definition of finance charges requiring disclosure and rejected the bank’s arguments for dismissing the fraud claims. The ruling allowed those claims to proceed and opened discovery into the lending practices.

Coinbase Securities Litigation. Ian represents cryptocurrency investors in Underwood et al. v. Coinbase Global, Inc. et al., No. 1:21-cv-08353 (S.D.N.Y.), where SGT serves as court-appointed co-lead counsel. The action seeks recovery under federal and state securities laws for Coinbase’s alleged sale of unregistered securities. In April 2024, plaintiffs won a reversal in the Second Circuit that reinstated their Securities Act claims and returned their state-law claims to the district court for adjudication.

In July 2026, plaintiffs obtained partial summary judgment establishing that Coinbase acted as a statutory seller when it sold tokens from its own inventory directly to customers. Those transactions involved at least $178 million in token sales. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer rejected Coinbase’s claimed federal and state statutory exemptions and allowed the claims arising from those sales to proceed, including control-person claims against Coinbase Global and CEO Brian Armstrong.

YouTube Children’s Privacy Litigation - $30 Million Settlement . Ian and SGT brought this action against Google, YouTube, and several YouTube channels owners in the wake of Google and YouTube's then record breaking $170 million settlement with the FTC and NY AG's office for illegally collecting children’s personal information without parental consent in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). After the Court twice ruled that children’s parallel claims were pre-empted, SGT won a precedent-setting appeal at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holding that COPPA does not preempt parallel state law claims. This decision runs counter to several district court decisions holding the opposite and opens the door for children to recover damages arising out of COPPA violations. The settlement was given final approval in January 2026. The case is Hubbard v. Google LLC , No. 5:19-cv-07016 (N.D. Cal.).

Allianz Structured Alpha Litigation: $145+ Million in Settlements. Ian led SGT’s efforts securing a $145 million class settlement for investors in Allianz’s Structured Alpha mutual funds and represented private-fund investors who obtained additional confidential settlements. The litigation arose from allegations of fraud in funds that lost more than $7 billion in market value during the March 2020 market turmoil, harming pension funds and other institutional and individual investors. The mutual-fund settlement received final approval in March 2023. The private-fund settlements followed a ruling substantially denying Allianz’s motion to dismiss claims under ERISA and for breach of contract and fiduciary duty.

Nelnet Data Breach Litigation - $10 Million Settlement. Ian was appointed co-lead counsel for a putative class of 2.5 million student loan borrowers whose sensitive personal information was obtained by unauthorized third parties from Nelnet Servicing, LLC, a student loan servicer and web portal payment provider. The settlement was given final approval in July 2026. 

Philips CPAP Recall Litigation: $1.6 Billion in Settlements. Ian and SGT filed the first U.S. lawsuit arising from Philips’ June 2021 recall of breathing devices containing potentially harmful foam. Judge Joy Conti appointed Ian to a plaintiffs’ leadership committee, where he helped secure settlements totaling $1.6 billion for economic losses, medical monitoring, and personal injuries.

Aerospace No-Poach Antitrust Litigation: $60.5 Million in Settlements. Ian represented lead plaintiff Zoe Borozny in a class action alleging that Pratt & Whitney and aerospace staffing companies conspired to suppress wages through no-poach agreements. After Judge Sarala Nagala denied defendants’ motions to dismiss and compel arbitration, the litigation resulted in settlements totaling $60.5 million, which received final approval in January 2025.

Bond Rigging and LIBOR Manipulation Litigation. Before joining SGT, Ian litigated on behalf of debt and derivatives investors alleging the manipulation of bonds and interest rate derivatives via illegal price-fixing agreements in violation of the United States antitrust laws. See, e.g. In re: European Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, No. 19-cv-02601 (S.D.N.Y); Laydon v. Mizuho Bank, Ltd., No. 12-cv-03419 (S.D.N.Y) (manipulation of Yen-LIBOR-denominated financial instruments via illegal price-fixing agreement), Sullivan v. Barclays PLC, No. 13-cv-02811 (S.D.N.Y.) (manipulation of EURIBOR-denominated financial instruments), In re: London Silver Fixing Ltd. Antitrust Litigation, No. 14-md-02573 (S.D.N.Y.) (manipulation of the London Silver Fix), and Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd. v. Credit Suisse Group AG, No. 15-cv-871 (S.D.N.Y) (manipulation of Swiss franc-LIBOR-denominated financial instruments). Collectively these actions resulted in more than $820 million in settlements for investors.