Aatif Iqbal focuses his practice on securities fraud litigation. Aatif played a central role in Robb v. Fitbit Inc., No. 16-cv-00151 (N.D. Cal.), a securities class action alleging that the company misrepresented the accuracy of its key products’ heart-rate monitoring technology, in which the Firm obtained a $33 million settlement for the Class. Aatif also played a primary role in Thorpe v. Walter Investment Management Corp., No. 14-cv-20880 (S.D. Fla.), a securities class action alleging that the company misrepresented that its lending activities were regulatory-compliant despite engaging in rampant violations of federal consumer financial protection laws, in which the Firm achieved a $24 million settlement for the Class.
Aatif is also involved in several of the Firm’s other practice areas. Most significantly, Aatif, with partner Murielle J. Steven Walsh, led the Firm’s ground-breaking litigation arising from Pokémon Go, a popular location-based “augmented reality” mobile game released in July 2016. In re Pokemon Go Nuisance Litigation, No. 3:16-cv-04300 (N.D. Cal.). Pokémon Go uses GPS technology to create an immersive gaming experience in which the game’s characters and activities have specific locations in the real world, and so players must physically travel to different real-world locations in order to interact with the different characters and activities associated with each location. In 2019, the Firm achieved a landmark settlement requiring Niantic to follow a set of innovative procedures in response to future complaints from property owners about nuisance and trespass by Pokémon Go players.
Aatif has played pivotal roles in several class actions that resulted in total recoveries amounting to over $70 million for plaintiffs:
· Serr v. Medicines Company (D.N.J., $4.25 million)
· Erickson v. Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (C.D. Cal., $3.25 million)
· In re Retrophin, Inc. Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y., $3 million)
· In re Akari Therapeutics PLC Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y., $2.7 million)
· Church v. Chatila (S.D.N.Y., $1.5 million)
· In re Altair Nanotechnologies Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y., $1.5 million)
Together with partner Murielle J. Steven Walsh, Aatif leads several of the Firm’s complex securities class action litigation cases, including Ferris v. Wynn Resorts Ltd., No. 18-cv-479 (D. Nev.), arising out of the Company’s concealment of a long-running pattern of sexual misconduct by founder and former CEO Stephen Wynn; In re Blue Apron Holdings Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 17-4846 (E.D.N.Y.); and In re Allergan plc Securities Litigation, No. 18-12089 (S.D.N.Y.).
Before joining Pomerantz, Aatif was a litigation associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where his practice involved bankruptcy, securities, and complex commercial litigation matters. Aatif also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Patricia A. Seitz, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida.
Aatif graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he earned a Dean's Scholarship in First Amendment Law and served as Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Managing Technical Editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. He graduated cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in Political Science.
Aatif is admitted to practice law in New York, the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York City and State Bar Associations.