Fujitsu Class Action Arrives at $14M Deal

Fujitsu Class Action Arrives at $14M Deal

Fujitsu workers involved in a class action lawsuit told a California federal judge that they’ve come to a $14 million deal with the company. Fujitsu agreed to pay to end a nearly $150 million proposed class action alleging that the company paid more fees than necessary to invest the retirement funds of nearly 23,000 current and former workers.

The workers asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael M. Cousins to approve a deal, stating that the settlement compares favorably to other 401(k) settlements. The deal is worth roughly $600 per class member and a full one percent of the plan’s total value.

Fujitsu Class Action Alleges Firm Mismanaged Retirement Funds

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company whose products are available in over 100 countries. In 2015, it was the world’s fourth-largest IT services provider measured by IT services revenue.

In June 2016, workers sued the company’s California office, alleging the tech firm mismanaged their retirement plans. The suit claims that the company deprived its workers of returns by buying more expensive classes of funds than necessary. It also claims that the company did not monitor the record-keeping and administrative fees it paid, and the plan’s offerings included “excessively costly investments”.

The proposed deal will pay a class of 22,705 members—all of whom participated in the company’s 401(k) plan between June 2010 and September 2017. The payments will be based on the value of the investors’ investments at certain points in the class period. Less weight will be applied to assets held after Fujitsu revised its 401(k) plan in 2016.

Are You a Victim of Securities Fraud?

If you lost money as a result of misconduct on the behalf of your company or are the victim of securities fraud, contact a qualified securities fraud attorney today.

Call a Securities Fraud Attorney Today

If you are looking for an attorney to review your rights and options, the securities fraud lawyers at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. have recovered more than $100 million from banks and brokerage firms for their wrongful actions.

With offices in Los AngelesNew YorkWest Palm Beach and Miami, our securities fraud attorneys represent clients nationwide and can help you recover your investment losses.

Contact a securities fraud attorney at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. today to schedule an appointment or consultation to review your rights and options.

Fortune 500 Index for Investors

Barclays Is Creating a Fortune 500 Index for Investors

Fortune 500 Index for Investors Could Be Beneficial

The U.K.-based global banking giant Barclays has announced an exclusive agreement with Time Inc. to develop a new family of stock indices based on the Fortune 500. The new Barclays indices will track the performance of the public Fortune 500 companies with an equal-weighted index and other weighting methodologies, which will provide alternatives to market-capitalization-weighted indices.

Using the Fortune 500 as a base, the new index may give investors the opportunity to see how the list measures up as a way to ‘play’ the market. Together, the companies on the 2017 Fortune 500 list have a combined $12 trillion in revenues – equal to roughly two-thirds of U.S. GDP.

The bank is set to launch the Barclays Fortune 500 Equal Weighted Index in July 2017.

About The Fortune 500 Index

The Fortune 500 is an annual list of the largest companies in the U.S. ranked by revenue and compiled by Fortune magazine. The list includes some of the highest revenue-generating companies in the U.S., both private and publicly-traded. Top-ranking companies include Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, Exxon Mobil, CVS Health, and General Motors.

In sum, the companies on the list earned $890 billion in profits last year and have a total of $19 trillion in market value. This year’s Fortune 500 list marks the 63rd edition.

Call an Investment Fraud Attorney Today

If you are looking for an attorney to review your rights and options, the securities lawyers at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. have recovered more than $100 million from banks and brokerages firms for their wrongful actions.

With offices in Los AngelesNew YorkWest Palm Beach and Miami, our investment fraud attorneys represent clients nationwide and may be able to help you recover your investment losses.

Contact an attorney at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. today to schedule an appointment or consultation to review your rights and options.

Twitter application loading on mobile phone.

Twitter Executives Sued by Stockholder Derivative Suit in California

Twitter shareholders have sued Twitter executives in California federal court. The shareholder allege that company leadership lied about user activity, causing the stock to trade at artificially high prices and costing investors hundreds of millions of dollars once the truth came out.

According to the complaint, both current and former Twitter executives are accused of misleading investors about the company’s financial prospects, including its growth rate and user engagement. The complaint focuses on statements made to the press and those found in Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) filings about monthly active users and timeline views, while those in charge failed to report slowing growth trends, and that as far back as early 2015 the company was experiencing flat or possibly even declining numbers of users.

The plaintiff in this case claimed that investors found out about Twitter’s alleged exaggerations in July 2015, when the second quarter results fell short of expectations.

As a result of the second quarter performance, Twitter’s stock price plunged nearly 15% in a single day, causing the loss of hundreds of millions in market capitalization for investors.

Generally speaking, before a derivative lawsuit can be brought, the shareholders are required to ask the directors to take remedial action. In this matter, Porter claimed such action would be futile, since the board of directors would face liability for allowing the misstatements to occur, and for failing to implement any form of internal control to prevent this from taking place.

Last month, a proposed securities class action was filed against Twitter, alleging that the company was not honest with shareholders for more than a year regarding the effectiveness of their new initiatives.

The proposed class action includes anyone who bought Twitter stock between February 6, 2015, and July 28, 2015 – just before the second quarter announcement was made.

Call a Los Angeles Investment Fraud Attorney Today

If you invested with in Twitter between February and July 2015, you may have certain legal rights that require your immediate attention.

Contact an experienced Los Angeles investment fraud attorney today for a consultation to discuss your rights and options.

Man ponders potential stock options as an employee.

Exercising Employee Stock Options

If you’ve been provided stock options as a part of your employment compensation or received stock options conditioned on meeting certain criteria as a part of your employment, understanding your rights as an option holder is important.

What is a Stock Option?

An employee stock option gives an employee the right to buy their employer’s stock at a pre-set price within a certain period of time. You can choose not to exercise your right, which is why you have the “option” to buy the stock. Your right to exercise the option might be a part of your employment agreement, or conditioned on meeting certain criteria (like a sales goal, for example).

Knowing When to Exercise Your Option

Knowing when (and even if) exercising your options is right, or even if the conditions needed to trigger your option exist depends on a variety of factors. In addition, protecting the value of your stock options or the shares you buy after exercising your options can involve complex investment strategies.  If you have questions about your rights, you should contact an experienced Los Angeles employee stock options attorney before making a decision.

As an employee, it is important to know that even though it is your right to sell shares of stock acquired by exercising your options, you may face pressure from your employer not to sell the shares. You also should understand that exercising a stock option can have tax consequences that can affect how to treat your option, and you should consider consulting a tax professional beforehand.

Call a Los Angeles Securities Lawyer Today

If you suffered losses relating to your employee stock options, or were pressured into holding shares that you bought with your stock options, you may have certain legal rights that require your immediate attention.

Contact an experienced Los Angeles securities attorney today for a consultation to discuss your rights and options.