SEC Global Settlement — 2003

billion. That's what the major brokerage firms will pay in a most historic settlement. Now, investors know that there may be another reason why they have lost money in the stock markets — fraud, deception and unethical behavior by their trusted brokerage firms. Indeed, SEC Chairman William Donaldson has said, "I am profoundly saddened — and angry — about the conduct that's alleged in our complaints ... and it cannot be tolerated."

Investors and their financial advisers (who likewise are victims, duped by the same investment banking / research analyst shenanigans) should not stand for this behavior either. They should join forces to send a message to Wall Street, by filing claims for investment loss recovery with the to-be-created Distribution Fund, as well as in securities arbitration.

FinancialCounsel.com stands ready to help. In the days and weeks ahead, we will provide assistance to investors and their financial advisers. For now ...

Which brokerage firms committed wrongs against investors?
Firms That Issued Fraudulent Research: Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney.

Firms That Issued Unfair Research, or Research Not in Good Faith: Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Piper Jaffray, UBS PaineWebber, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney.

Firms That Received or Made Undisclosed Payments for Research: J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS PaineWebber, Piper Jaffray, and Bear Stearns.

Firms That Engaged in Acts and Practices That Created or Maintained Inappropriate Influence by Investment Banking Over Research Analysts: All Firms noted above.

Firms That Failed to Supervise: All firms noted above.

What stocks are covered?
Investors may file claims with the Distribution Fund only for covered stocks at particular brokerage firms. However, securities arbitration may be filed for other claims as well as for larger losses on covered stocks. Covered stocks are:

Agile Software
Atmel
Concord/EFS
eBay
Loudcloud
Sabre Group
Veritas Software
iBeam Broadcasting
Transmeta
AT&T Latin America

Buca, Inc.
Comverse Technology
Emisphere Technologies
Esperion Therapeutics
JDS Uniphase
Natural Microsystems
Metromedia Fiber Network, Inc.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals
Therasense
Triton Network Systems

Broadwing
DDi Corp
Razorfish
RealNetworks
RSL Communcations

24/7 Media
Aether
Excite@Home
GoTo.com
Homestore.com
InfoSpace
Internet Capital Group
LifeMinders

Technology Partners International
International Rectifier
Infineon Technologies
Epicor Software Corporation
CCC Information Services
Participate.com
Vicinity
Intertrust
Mypoints
Concord EFS

StorageNetworks
Loudcloud
GeneProt
Crosswave Communications
Willis
Crown Castle
Exodus
WebEx
Global Crossing
AT&T
WorldCom
360Networks
Winstar Communications

Triangle Pharmaceuticals
Atmel
Espeed
Netopia
Flextronics
Interspeed
Avant Immunotherapeutics
JDS Uniphase

Additional information may be found on the SEC website. Helpful links are noted below.
Chairman Donaldson's Statement
Commission Statement
Fact Sheet

Global Settlement Litigation Releases:
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc.
Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated
Lehman Brothers Inc.
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated; Henry M. Blodget
J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
UBS Warburg LLC
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., f/k/a Salomon Smith Barney Inc.; Jack Benjamin Grubman
Credit Suisse First Boston LLC, f/k/a Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation
Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.

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James J. Eccleston is a securities attorney, representing investors as well as brokers and brokerage firms nationwide in arbitration, litigation and regulatory matters. He maintains an informative website at www.FinancialCounsel.com. He is an equity partner with Shaheen, Novoselsky, Staat, Filipowski & Eccleston, and can be reached at 312-621-4400.