Auction Rate Preferred Securities (ARPS)

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

The Holman Law Office is investigating alleged securities fraud in connection with the sale of auction rate securities (“ARPS”) 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 Allianz, Blackrock, Cohen & Steers, Eaton Vance, Nuveen and ING. According to recent news articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, broker-dealers and issuers materially misrepresented the liquidity and risks of the ARPS to individual investors and corporations. Investors in a now illiquid ARPS fund should ask, where's my bailout? If your broker sold you ARPS telling you they were “as good as cash,’' you might have wondered whether the Federal Reserve intends to help you as you watched the Fed guarantee $29 billion of precarious “assets” from the balance sheet of Bear Stearns. Unfortunately, holders of ARPS cannot expect to receive a Bear Stearns bailout. While you can hope that the issuer of the auction-rate security will buy back your securities, you can sue the brokers who sold the securities, in many cases making verbal promises that your ARPS fund holdings could be cashed in weekly. Arbitration or litigation of this dispute may become soon a necessary option as you wait with no access to your money. The Holman Law Office is prepared to assist you in making the best decision whether to sue, arbitrate or hold off, given your particular circumstances. Should you join a class action? Should you file your own case in court or make a claim in arbitration (with FINRA)? These are some of the questions that you may desire to discuss with the Holman Law Office. Many broker dealers sold ARPS by labeling them as “cash equivalents,” in press releases, monthly account statements, individual communications with investors, and other investment advice material. In fact, the promised liquidity of ARPS was created through artificial intervention in the auctions by the broker-dealers. Since mid February, 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. As a result, over $340 billion in auction rate securities that were once offered as “cash equivalents” are now illiquid, resulting in economic losses and severe hardships for you as investors in those securities.

If you wish to discuss your rights as an investor, please fill out the information sheet below, or contact Thomas A. Holman, Esq. (TAHolman@holmanlawoffice.com), or Katherine Warshaw-Reid (Katherine. Warshaw.Reid@holmanlawoffice.com) at 212-300-0345.

Mr. Holman has been specializing in consumer class actions, securities and complex business litigation for more than 25 years. For more than the last 20 years Mr. Holman has held the highest lawyer rating from the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory.

Privacy Policy: Holman Law Office maintains the privacy of your message. We do not transfer your personal information, including your email address, to any third party. Information entered in the form will be used solely for informational purposes to assist in our case investigations.

Request More Information About the Auction Rate Securities Investigation.

Your use of this web site, or sending of email to the Holman Law Office, does not, by itself, create an attorney-client relationship between you and the Holman Law Office.