Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) has consented to pay $125 million to settle allegations that it misled investors about the risks involved in mortgage-backed securities. The plaintiffs in the class action securities lawsuit include a number of public pensions, including the New Orleans Employees’ Retirement System, Government of Guam Retirement…
Sonoma Valley Bank shareholders have submitted a class action complaint accusing the financial institution’s chief financial officer, chief executive officer, and six corporate directors of mismanaging over $40 million in loans. The plaintiffs are placing most of the blame for this alleged financial negligence, and the bank’s collapse, on bank…
Merrill Lynch, a unit of Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is now the defendant of a class action securities fraud lawsuit filed on behalf of at least 1,800 investors. A federal judge certified the class status, which involves all investors in mortgage-backed securities that were sold beginning February 2006 through…
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff has ruled that Merrill Lynch must face a class action securities fraud lawsuit over mortgage-backed securities. The class of at least 1,800 investors consists of the buyers of 31 tranches of MBS in 18 different offerings that were sold between February 2006 and September…
Per Advisen Ltd’s latest quarterly report on securities litigation, the number of securities lawsuit filings will likely set a new record high for yet another year in a row. Records were set in 2008, 2009, and 2010 following the credit crisis. Advisen’s quarterly report was sponsored by ACE. John Molka…
Per a new study by Cornerstone Research Inc., 86 securities class action settlements were approved in 2010-that’s significantly less than the 101 securities class action settlements that the courts approved in 2009. The settlements for last year’s cases totaled $3.1 billion. In 2009, the settlements reached $3.8 billion. One reason…
The US Supreme Court is upholding a $277 million securities fraud verdict against Apollo Group and two ex-Apollo executives over claims that they misled investors about a Department of Education review report dealing with student recruitment policies. Apollo is the University of Phoenix’s parent company. By issuing its order to…
The plaintiffs in a class action case against Bank of America Corp. (BAC) are asking a court to intervene in the securities settlement reached between the investment bank and 20 state attorneys generals over the alleged manipulation of municipal derivatives bids. As part of the global settlement, BofA agreed to…
The US District Court has approved an amendment to the proposed Charles Schwab Corporation Securities Litigation settlement. The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action has been sent to the affected class members, which includes those who may have held Schwab YieldPlus Fund shares on September 1, 2006 and…
Three individuals, Judith Welling, Robert Mick, and Charles Mederrick, have filed a purported securities class action against the Securities and Exchange Commission over financial losses related to investments they made in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. In their amended complaint, the plaintiffs are seeking damages sustained because of the…