Securities fraud litigation is exceedingly complex and can take years to resolve. If you are an attorney or plaintiff with slow-paying securities fraud settlements, RD Legal Funding can convert your settled cases into immediate cash. To find out if you qualify for our proprietary Fee Acceleration post-settlement funding program, please fill out the brief application to the right for a free consultation with one of our legal funding specialists. You can also reach us at 1-800-565-5177 to speak with a Fee Acceleration expert.Securities FraudThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is charged with protecting investors; maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets; and to facilitating capital formation. The laws governing the securities industry are based on the idea that all investors, whether large institutions or private individuals, should have access to certain basic facts about an investment prior to buying and as long as they hold it. The SEC has the enforcement authority to bring civil enforcement actions against individuals and companies for violating securities laws including:
Allegations of securities fraud are investigated by the SEC and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and can result in criminal and civil penalties resulting in imprisonment and fines.
The Securities Class Action Clearinghouse at Stanford University tracks federal class action securities fraud lawsuits lodged since the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Recent major securities fraud class action suits include:
WorldCom: Senior executives used shady accounting methods to mask the company’s declining financial condition by falsely professing financial growth and profitability to increase the stock price. Litigation is still pending although a settlement agreement of $6.128 billion has been reached. At one time, WorldCom was the United States’ second largest long distance telephone company.
Enron: Top executives at the Houston based energy company used accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, and poor financial reporting to hide billions of dollars of debt from failed deals and projects, leading to the largest bankruptcy in American history at the time and the failure of one of the five largest audit and accountancy firms in the world. Litigation is still pending but a settlement agreement of $4.760 billion has been agreed upon.
McKesson HBOC Inc. is settling its securities class action litigation for $960 million in response to allegations that the company issued materially false and misleading statements to the investing public that artificially inflated the prices of HBOC’s and the Company’s securities. Plaintiffs received an additional $10 million from Bear Stearns and $81.5 million from Arthur Anderson.
Cendant litigation was settled for $3.525 billion ($3.185 billion in the common equity settlement and $340 million in the PRIDES settlement) to shareholders — including the country’s three largest pension funds — who sued the company for allegedly fraudulent accounting practices. Cendant operates several prominent franchises including Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA real estate, Avis car rental, and the Ramada hotels.
The IPO Allocation Litigation was settled for $1 billion. Retail investors claimed that investment banks including Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group allocated blocks of hot tech IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) to those institutional investors who agreed to buy more in the after-market, thereby manipulating the market and inflating share prices.
Lucent Technologies settled for $673 million the allegations that the company violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by improperly reducing medical benefits to retirees.Let RD Legal Accelerate Your Security Fraud Litigation Related Fees. RD Legal Funding is positioned to provide security fraud plaintiff’s attorneys and their clients with immediate post-settlement funding. To start accelerating your legal fees today, please fill out the brief online application located at the upper right corner of this page. Or you can call RD Legal toll-free at 1-800-565-5177 to speak with one of our legal funding experts.
