FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 8, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Court has set July 2, 2010 as the deadline for investors to apply to serve as Lead Plaintiffs in a class action involving Morgan Keegan Closed End Funds. A class action lawsuit was filed for investors by Napoli Bern Ripka, LLP and Sonn & Erez, PLC on April 8, 2010 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Memphis Division (Jones v. Morgan Keegan & Co., et al., Case No. 2:10-cv-2248-SHM-dkv, Master Case No. 2:07-02830-SHM), on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired shares in the Regions Morgan Keegan closed-end bond funds (collectively, "RMK Funds") between December 6, 2004 and February 6, 2008:
$ RMK High Income Fund – RMH (Now HIH)
$ RMK Strategic Income Fund – RSF (Now HSA)
$ RMK Multi-Sector High Income Fund – RHY (Now HMH)
$ RMK Advantage Income Fund – RMA (Now HAV)
If you wish to serve as Lead Plaintiff, an application must be filed no later than July 2, 2010, with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. A Lead Plaintiff is the representative for all absent class members. Generally, the investor with the largest investment loss has the best chance to serve as Lead Plaintiff. You do not need to serve as Lead Plaintiff to share in any class recovery in this action. If there is a recovery, and were a purchaser of the RMK Closed End Funds during the class period, you may share in that recovery without serving as Lead Plaintiff. You may also choose to hire any counsel to represent you in this action.
If you, your company, or pension fund purchased any of these funds and have suffered a significant financial loss as a result, and please feel free to call us for more information.
If you want to serve as lead Plaintiff, or just have questions about the lawsuit, please contact Jeff Sonn, Esq. or Scott Adkins, Esq. at 866-372-8311, or Adam J. Gana Esq. at 212-267-2700.
The complaint alleges that Morgan Keegan, its affiliates and employees misled its brokerage clients and individual investors as to the risks the RMK Funds took to seek returns. The RMK Funds invested a substantial portion of their assets in high-risk structured products that were highly speculative and illiquid without disclosing these risks to the investing public. Plaintiffs contend that the RMK Fund's losses were not caused by a downturn in the economy but instead were caused by heavy concentrations in low priority investments that bore incredible risks of loss that materialized. The complaint further alleges that Morgan Keegan affirmatively misled investors into believing that the RMK Funds contained diverse, higher quality assets, but in fact there were very risky investments, were wrongly compared to a corporate bond index, and artificially created stable net asset values through misleading asset valuations. The Plaintiffs in the class action allege they lost millions of dollars, and investors overall lost over $1.4 billion dollars.
Napoli Bern Ripka, LLP and Sonn & Erez, PLC have been highly successful in arbitrating claims on behalf of hundreds of investors that have been misled by Morgan Keegan. With numerous FINRA arbitrations filed on behalf of our clients Napoli Bern Ripka, and Sonn & Erez are recognized leaders in advocating for defrauded investors in the RMK Funds.