ParmalatCohen Milstein serves as court-appointed co-lead counsel for a class of investors who purchased Parmalat securities between January 5, 1999 and December 18, 2003. The class alleges that, for over a decade, corporate insiders, as well as outside accountants, banks and counsel, misled investors in one of the largest and most egregious corporate financial frauds ever. Following its sudden financial collapse, Parmalat announced that its audited financial statements had been understated by nearly $10 billion and that shareholder equity had been overstated by $16.4 billion. The action is still proceeding more than three years after Parmalat shocked the investing world by announcing that a bank account of one of Parmalat's subsidiaries at Bank of America that supposedly held $4.9 billion did not exist. The Defendants include entities related to the Deloitte and Grant Thornton accounting firms, Parmalat's outside counsel, and the investment banks Citigroup and Bank of America. To date, the parties have exchanged millions of pages of documents, and hundreds of hours of deposition testimony has been taken around the country and the world, including Europe, South America and the Middle East. Expert discovery is now proceeding. The Lead Plaintiffs have reached a proposed agreement of settlement with two defendants, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) and several Credit Suisse entities, for payment of $50 million ($25 million paid by each). You can read the Press Release and Summary Notice concerning the settlement; please also go to the official website, www.ParmalatSettlement.com, to learn more details and see the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement. The Court held a Hearing on July 19, 2007 on the proposed settlement, and on a request by Cohen Milstein and its co-counsel for reimbursement of certain of their expenses. The Court approved the settlement and the request for expenses with these two Orders. The case is currently pending before Judge Kaplan in the Southern District of New York, and is proceeding against the remaining defendants. |
