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| CONTACT: | Press
Office (518) 474-4015 |
FOR RELEASE: |
Immediately March 10, 2005 |
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Hevesi Announces Another Settlement In The Worldcom Securities Litigation Alan G. Hevesi, New York State Comptroller and sole Trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund and Court-appointed Lead Plaintiff in the WorldCom Securities Litigation, announced this afternoon that another of the major underwriters in the Litigation has agreed to settle the claims asserted against it. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., which participated as an underwriter in WorldCom’s May 2000 and May 2001 bond offerings, has agreed to pay $325,000,000 in settlement of the claims asserted against it. Deutsche Bank underwrote 1.4% of the May 2000 offering, and 8% of the May 2001 offering. If this settlement and the settlements achieved earlier in the case, including the two announced this morning, are approved by the Court, this will bring the total amount recovered for the WorldCom investor class to $4,001,500,000. The settlements announced today leave J.P. Morgan Securities and certain of its affiliates (which underwrote 37.5% of the May 2000 offering and 32.11% of the May 2001 offering, and served as a Co-Lead Underwriter for the May 2001 offering) as the only major underwriter defendant left in the case. Other non-underwriter defendants remaining in the case are Arthur Andersen and the former WorldCom directors. As in other settlements announced this week, the amount being paid by Deutsche Bank is higher, on a percentage basis, than the rate established by the amount the Citigroup Defendants agreed in May 2004 to pay to settle the bond portions of the claims against them. “As I stated before, we commend all of the settling firms for
their decisions to settle the claims of the Class, and we are again
very pleased to have been able to obtain this additional excellent
recovery. We remain willing to talk with other defendants about potential
settlements, but we remain focused on the start of the trial against
any remaining defendants next week,” Hevesi said. These settlements follow the $460.5 million settlement with Bank of America announced on March 3, the $100.3 million settlement with Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston, and UBS Warburg announced on March 4, the $428.4 million in settlements with ABN AMRO, Mitsubishi Securities International, BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and Mizuho International announced on March 9, 2005, the $112.5 million in settlements with WestLB and Cabato Holding announced this morning, and the $2.575 billion settlement with the Citigroup Defendants, which was approved by United States District Court Judge Denise Cote on November 12, 2004. Hevesi is the Court-appointed Lead Plaintiff in the consolidated securities class action, In re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, which is pending before Judge Cote. The NYSCRF and investor class are represented by the law firms of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, who were appointed as Lead Counsel by Judge Cote in August 2002. The two firms also served as Lead Counsel in the Cendant class action, which was previously the highest recovery ever achieved in a securities law class case. To obtain further information concerning that Settlement and the submission of proof of claim forms, investors may access the website maintained by Lead Counsel, at www.worldcomlitigation.com. ###
Albany Phone: (518) 474-4015 Fax:(518)
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