PHILADELPHIA, March 26, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Despite improvements in the offer to buy Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. ("Bear Stearns" or the "Company") (NYSE:BSC), employees of the Company still face economic hardship as a result of the Company's misconduct, according to the law firm of Spector Roseman & Kodroff, P.C. The firm is continuing its investigation into Bear Stearns' conduct for potential violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"). The investigation focuses on investments in Bear Stearns stock by the Bear Stearns Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP"), the Profit Sharing Plan ("PSP"), and other Bear Stearns employee plans.
On March 16, JPMorgan Chase announced an agreement to purchase Bear Stearns stock at $2 per share, for a total of $236 million -- far less than the reported value of the Bear Stearns building in New York. Since then, JPMorgan has raised its offer to $10 per share. As noted by Robert Roseman, named partner at Spector Roseman & Kodroff, "It's hard to call this much of an improvement, when Bear Stearns employees are still losing as much as 90% of the value of their retirement and deferred compensation plans. Those employees earned that money, and they shouldn't lose it due to the Company's wrongdoing."
Spector Roseman & Kodroff's investigation involves concerns that administrators of the Company plans may have breached their fiduciary duties to the plans' participants and beneficiaries. A breach of fiduciary duties occur when fiduciaries fail to manage plan assets in the sole interest of the plan participants by investing the assets in Company stock when it was no longer a prudent investment for participants' retirement savings.
Specifically, Bear Stearns and other plan fiduciaries continued to invest in and hold Bear Stearns stock in the plans despite the Company's apparent mismanagement of the risk of assets held by the Company and its gross failure to maintain adequate capital and liquidity.
If you are a member of the Bear Stearns ESOP, PSP, or other retirement or deferred compensation plans that purchased or held Bear Stearns stock, you can contact the firm at classaction@srk-law.com for a more thorough explanation of the investigation. You may also call Robert M. Roseman or Ted Lieverman at the firm's toll-free number, 888-844-5862. Even if you have relatively small losses, a class action lawsuit can protect your rights at no cost to you.
Spector Roseman & Kodroff, P.C., a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania law firm, concentrates its practice in class action and complex litigation in the areas of securities, antitrust, consumer fraud and employment. The firm is active in major litigation pending throughout the United States, including claims for employee benefit funds and their participants. The firm has been appointed lead counsel in numerous major class actions and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of injured class members.
For more information about the firm, visit its website at http://www.srk-law.com.
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