Regions Financial Corp.'s Morgan Keegan Hit With Another Arbitration Award Relating to RMK High Yield Funds Announces Sonn & ...
January 11 2012 - 7:46PM
The Law Firm of Sonn & Erez announces that Regions Financial
Corp.'s (NYSE:RF) Morgan Keegan unit was hit again with another
verdict in a FINRA arbitration case, awarding over $214,000, plus
attorneys fees to a customer from Ormand Beach, Florida for losses
relating to "high yield" funds sold under the RMK [Regions Morgan
Keegan] brand (FINRA Case No.10-2526). The award is significant in
that the FINRA panel awarded "well managed" damages, the amount
that the customer would have earned had the pension funds been
"well managed," and attorneys fees to the customer. Morgan Keegan's
request for $200,000 of attorneys fees was denied by the
arbitration panel.
This arbitration verdict comes on top of other verdicts won by
Sonn & Erez, PLC, including $1.1 Million award for a WWII
veteran, a $1,080,000 award for a Fort Lauderdale family, a
$285,000 arbitration award for a Vietnam veteran and a
$430,000 award for a retired banker. Morgan Keegan has been
the subject of numerous arbitration cases relating to over $2
billion of losses in RMK bond mutual funds formerly managed by
James Kelsoe, which funds were decimated due to investments in what
attorneys have described as lower tranches of asset backed
securities, commonly known in the structured finance and banking
industry as "toxic waste."
"We believe we proved that our client's Morgan Keegan broker did
not fully appreciate the extreme risks of the RMK high yield bond
funds which held risky lower tranches of asset backed securities,
aka 'toxic waste,'" said Jeffrey Erez, of Sonn and Erez PLC, who
represented the pension fund. "We believe that many Morgan Keegan
brokers were improperly used as conduits to put out false and
misleading information to get their clients to purchase Morgan
Keegan branded high yield bond mutual funds," added Jeffrey Sonn,
Esq.
In 2011, Morgan Keegan reached a settlement with Federal, State
and FINRA regulators in which it agreed to pay $200 million to
settle charges that the RMK high yield funds were misrepresented to
investors, among other charges.
Jeffrey Erez added, "Our pension fund client was just one of an
estimated 28,000 investors who bought these RMK bond funds and we
will continue to fight for these victims."
The RMK bond funds that have been the subject of hundreds of
investor arbitrations were later rebranded as Helios funds, managed
by Hyperion Brookfield, who took over as fund advisor in 2008,
including:
Helios Advantage Income Fund Helios High Income Fund Helios
Multi-Sector High Income Fund Helios Strategic Income Fund Helios
Select High Income Fund Helios Select Intermediate Income Fund
Helios Select Short Term Bond Fund
For more information, please contact Jeffrey Sonn or Jeffrey
Erez at Sonn and Erez PLC.
The Sonn & Erez PLC logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11383
CONTACT: Jeffrey Sonn, Esq.
Jeffrey Erez, Esq.
Sonn & Erez PLC
500 East Broward Blvd., Suite 1700
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33394
954-763-4700
www.sonnerez.com
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