Have you been unable to liquidate your auction rate bonds and preferred stocks?

Girard Gibbs LLP is investigating alleged securities fraud in connection with the sale of auction rate securities by a number of major broker-dealers, including UBS, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Wachovia, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase and TD Ameritrade, among others. The issuers of the auction rate securities include Blackrock, Eaton Vance, Nuveen and ING.

According to recent news articles, the broker-dealers and issuers materially misrepresented the liquidity and risks of the auction rate securities to individual investors and corporations by labeling these securities as “cash equivalents,” in press releases, monthly account statements, individual communications with investors, and other investment guidance material. In fact, the promised liquidity of the auction rate securities was created through artificial intervention in the auctions by the broker-dealers.

In the past month, the market for auction rate securities has collapsed, as all of the major broker-dealers have announced that they will no longer purchase auction rate securities for their own accounts to ensure that the auctions do not fail and that the securities remain liquid. In the past month, thousands of auctions run by the broker-dealers failed. As a result, over $350 billion in auction rate securities that were once offered as “cash equivalents” are now illiquid, resulting in economic losses and severe hardships for investors.

If you have information or wish to discuss your rights as an investor, please fill out the information sheet below, or contact Daniel C. Girard, Esq. (dcg@girardgibbs.com), Jonathan Levine, Esq. (jkl@girardgibbs.com), or Aaron Sheanin (ams@girardgibbs.com) toll free at (866) 981-4800.

Girard Gibbs, a national litigation firm specializing in consumer class actions, securities and complex business litigation, has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of its clients. Girard Gibbs’s managing partner Daniel Girard was recently voted one of Northern California’s Super Lawyers by Law & Politics Magazine, recognizing him as one of the top 5-percent of attorneys practicing in Northern California.

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