Securities and Investments

Securities and Investments

The Consumer Fraud Section handles cases involving securities and investment fraud. Our practice surrounding securities has expanded to include shareholder derivative litigation, securities fraud class actions, municipal bond insurance litigation and individual investor claims.

We are investigating claims for various public entities (such as municipalities, public universities and public hospital systems) against municipal bond insurance companies. These claims involve the purchase of surety bond insurance coverage from the insurance companies by public entities who issue municipal bonds to raise capital. We allege the bond insurers inflated and misrepresented their financial stability by hiding the fact they had large holdings in the sub-prime mortgage structured security market.

These insurers charged millions of dollars to public institutions who purchased their insurance coverage. The coverage was supposed to allow the public institutions to issue bonds at the best rates possible. When the subprime mortgage market collapsed in 2008, the bond insurance became worthless and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to cities, universities and hospitals.

We also continue to investigate and monitor claims against corporations that have intentionally and/or negligently caused the devaluation of their stock price to the detriment of shareholders. Our firm is investigating several claims against major corporations in the form of shareholder derivative actions.

Beasley Allen also is working on cases related to mutual funds. These cases involve claims that specific mutual funds participated in underlying investment strategies that illegally inflated the fund shares and resulted in damage to investors. We are pursuing derivative claims for the mutual funds, as well as class action claims on behalf of investors. We seek the recovery of capital losses suffered by the funds and their investors, and the return of all fees and other compensation paid by investors and/or the funds to the investment advisors.

What can I do?

If you feel you have a claim, our attorneys would like to talk to you. You may be entitled to compensation. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation legal consultation.