Reed Smith’s pursuit in New York state court of $6.75 million in fees it said it was owed for its work in a federal class action settlement amounted to a “sleight of hand” that the district court was correct to block, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in a per curiam order Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald of the Southern District of New York presided in Kaplan v. S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a case filed by shareholders in 2012 against a now-defunct hedge fund management company after the discovery of an insider trading scheme that led to SAC Capital trader Mathew Martoma’s conviction in Manhattan federal court, and a separate $1.2 billion penalty levied against the investment firm.