In a stinging rebuke for short-seller and legal activist Daniel Ravicher, a judge has dismissed claims that billionaire Carl Icahn and three major banks propped up an alleged pyramid scheme at the nutritional supplements company Herbalife Ltd.
In rulings issued on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan dismissed Ravicher’s twin lawsuits claiming that Icahn and the banks—Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co.—aided and abetted fraud on the part of Herbalife. “The complaint is dismissed because the defendants’ actions (even if proved) are so remote from Ravicher’s alleged injury as to demonstrate the implausibility of Ravicher’s calm,” Stanton wrote.
