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- U.S Investors target lawsuits at subprime lenders
- More hedge funds may be in firing line
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Following catastrophic losses in the subprime market, in the past few months at least a dozen U.S. securities lawsuits have been launched against subprime lenders. Last month, Merrill Lynch joined the list when it was hit with a claim led by U.S. class action law firms Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, and Abraham Fruchter & Twersky.
In a complaint filed in the U.S District Court in the Southern District of New York, the plaintiff, institutional investor Life Enrichment Foundation, alleges that four Merrill Lynch directors, including outgoing CEO Stan O’Neal, “…knew or recklessly disregarded” that the company was more exposed to subprime losses than it disclosed and that the company’s financial statements were, “…materially false due to the failure to inform the market of the ticking time bomb in the company’s CDO (collateralized debt obligation) portfolio.”
In particular, the claim cites the disparity between Merrill Lynch’s initial estimates of subprime losses, of around $5 billion and the $8 billion write-down announced in its third-quarter results, which led to a rapid drop it its stock price. As a class action, the claim is open to all purchasers of Merrill Lynch stock between 26th February and 23rd October 2007. Plaintiffs do not have to be U.S.-based.
As the number of U.S. investors pursuing subprime lawsuits continues to grow, hedge funds could be a major target for disgruntled investors. Earlier this year two Bear Stearn’s hedge funds became the first major subprime casualty, when both funds collapsed with losses of $1.6 billion. At least one investor, New York-based investment fund, Navigator Capital Partners has since filed a claim against the bank after claiming it lost nearly all its $700,000 investment. In its lawsuit, Navigator claims that Bear Sterns only took ‘meagre’ steps to prevent the collapse of the fund.
In August, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled that the Bear Stearns’ funds could not be granted bankruptcy protection in the Cayman Islands, despite being domiciled in the jurisdiction, a ruling that increases its exposure to lawsuits from U.S. creditors. The ruling has been appealed.