The opinion
A Y \ — A LO 200 N. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 825, El Segundo, CA 90245
T 310.689.1750, F 310.689.1755
Scott O. Luskin, (310) 689-1764
sol@paynefears.com
October 15, 2021
Honorable Lorna G. Schofield
United States District Judge
Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse
40 Foley Square
New York, NY 10007
Re: — Contant, et al. v. Bank of America Corp., et al.; No. 17-cv-3139
Dear Judge Schofield:
In response to the Court’s October 8 order (ECF 499), AMA submits this supplemental
letter supporting its request for sealing of information filed by Plaintiffs and AMA.
AMA recognizes the strong presumption of access that attaches to judicial documents.
See Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 121 (2d Circ. 2006). To the extent
documents submitted in support of a class action claim are judicial documents, they should be
given a lower weight of presumption of public access because they are not key pleadings like
summary judgment motions. See, e.g., Jn re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig., 164
F.R.D. 346, 354-55 (S.D.N.Y. 1996).
Regardless of the presumption, this Court has held that one of the interests justifying
sealing otherwise public documents is “protecting from disclosure proprietary, sensitive, and
confidential business information.” Debbie Markowitz v. KBI Services d/b/a Kindbody, No. 21-
mc-00397-LGS, 2021 WL 4702908 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 7, 2021) (Schofield, J.). The information
need not rise to the level of trade secrets. Jd. Accordingly, AMA’s sealing request includes: (1)
documents that reflect the confidential financial information of AMA, (2) documents that reflect
the confidential strategies and trade secrets of AMA, and (3) documents containing AMA user
names, account numbers, and other identifying information.!
The submissions generally reflect AMA’s confidential and proprietary business
information, including historical and current currency trading partners, business strategies, and
actual trading information, which, if made public, could negatively impact AMA’s business and
provide insight into AMA’s proprietary trading practices and trade secrets. Indeed, the identities
of trading partners and relationships is confidential with the industry. AMA has had, currently
has, or may in the near future again have competitive relationships with many Defendants and
FOREX settlement class members. As discussed below, AMA requests permission to file the
following documents with the proposed redactions or completely under seal:
1 AMA also viewed its communications with Class Counsel and the settlement
administrator acting on counsel’s behalf as legal advice, which is privileged under the attorney
client privilege. Those communications should be protected from disclosure for that reason &
well.
Page 2
AMA’s Submission (ECF 498)
Letter Brief – redacting portions of pages 1, 2, and 5 (reflecting confidential business
information including AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and specific information about
trades and trade practices)
Ex 1 – Lutomirski Declaration, redacting pages 4-6, 9 and 10 (reflecting confidential business
information including AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and specific information about
trades and trade practices)
Ex 2 - Trade Example completely under seal (reflecting AMA usernames, account numbers, and
confidential currency trade information)
Ex 3 – Email correspondence with Kristen M. Anderson completely under seal (reflecting
business strategies, including AMA’s trading venues, and the confidential preliminary status of
the FOREX claim)
Ex. 4 – Excerpts of email correspondence with Class Counsel redacting portions (reflecting
confidential business information including trading partners, trading volume, and AMA’s
communications with same)
Ex. 7 - Trade Example completely under seal (reflecting AMA usernames, account numbers, and
confidential currency trade information, including excerpts of banking statements)
Ex. 9 – Agreement with venue completely under seal (reflecting the parties’ trading agreement
with pricing)
Plaintiff’s Submission (ECF 490)
Letter Brief – Redact portions of all pages (reflecting confidential business information including
AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and specific information about trades and trade
practices)
Ex. A – Claim Assessment completely under seal (discussing AMA’s contracts with venues, as
well as confidential and proprietary trading volume, partners, and timing of trades)
Exs. B, C – Redact portions of email correspondence (reflecting confidential business
information, including AMA’s trading partners)
Ex. D – Redact portions of email correspondence (reflecting confidential business information
including AMA’s trading partners and trade practices)
Ex. F – Redact portions of email correspondence (reflecting confidential business information
including AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and trade practices as well as information
confidential to the FOREX matter)
Judge Schofield
October 15, 2021
Page 3
Ex. G — Redact portions of email correspondence (reflecting confidential business information
including AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and specific information about trades, AMA
username, account numbers, and other identifying information, and trade practices)
Ex. I, J, K — Redact portions of email correspondence (reflecting confidential business
information including AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and trade practices)
Ex. L — Cover letter explaining details of updated claim completely under seal (discussing
AMA’s contracts with venues, as well as confidential and proprietary trading volume, partners,
and timing of trades)
Ex. M —- Redact portions of correspondence to claim administrator (reflecting confidential
business information, including AMA’s trading partners)
Ex. N — Response to Claim Assessment completely under seal (discussing AMA’s contracts with
venues, as well as confidential and proprietary trading volume, partners, and timing of trades)
Ex. O — Redact portions of correspondence from Class Counsel (reflecting confidential business
information including AMA’s trading partners, trading volume, and specific information about
trades, and trade practices)
Ex. Q — Agreement with venue completely under seal (reflecting the parties’ trading agreement
with pricing)
For the exhibits identified above, AMA can submit suggested redactions of documents
previously submitted by Plaintiffs completely under seal at the Court’s convenience.
Respectfully op
Scott O. Luskin
PAYNE & FEARS LLP
SOL/bfm
AMA's application to seal the documents at Dkt. No. 497 is GRANTED for substantially the reasons stated
in this letter. By October 22, 2021, AMA shall file its proposed redactions to the documents at Dkt. No.
490 under seal.
The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed (1) to maintain the documents at Dkt. No. 497 under seal with
access limited to the parties listed in the appendix at Dkt. No 496 and (2) to close the motion at Dkt. No.
496.
Dated: October 18, 2021 .
New York, New York
LORNA G. SCHOFIEL
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE