The 18-month decline in shareholder class action filings has reversed course, with 2007 federal filings projected to increase by 58 per cent compared to the previous year, And subprime is driving a lot of it.
New data shows securities lawsuits are on the rise. And the payouts are getting bigger. If you include the biggest ones, the average payout comes out to $100 million.
The scamsters behind those securities fraud schemes that pump and dump stock and prey on the elderly suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder. The US Government handles them with kid gloves and it should come down hard one them with criminal prosecutions and setting up a register of offenders.
People have slammed the harsh sentences on Jeff Skilling and Bernie Ebbers as over the top. You get less for murder, they say. But lawyers say society now believes security fraud is as bad as aggravated robbery or home invasion.
Google’s corporate motto is “don’t be evil”. Now, the Securities and exchange Commission is raasing questions about how the web search giant pays its taxes.
Class-action lawsuits filed over securities fraud reached an all-time low in 2006. But will the trend continue with the campaign to weaken Federal oversight of big business gathering momentum?
