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Financial Times Profiles BLB&G as "Biggest Star" in the Securities Bar;
FT Cover Story Details BLB&G's Prosecution of Stock Options Backdating Cases
May 22, 2006 - On May 18, 2006, BLB&G filed a derivative Complaint on behalf of several pension fund clients
against executives of UnitedHealth Group, Inc. ("UnitedHealth") for allegedly manipulating stock options practices to guarantee windfall
compensation. In two separate stories on May 22, 2006, The Financial Times ("FT") cited the UnitedHealth Complaint, BLB&G's ongoing prosecution
of the participants in the high-profile fraud at now bankrupt U.S. brokerage house
Refco, Inc. ("Refco"), and BLB&G's unprecedented
recoveries in the WorldCom securities litigation,
and called the firm the "biggest star in the firmament" of plaintiff securities work.
The FT stories featured founding partner Max Berger,
as well as fellow partners
Gerald Silk and
John "Sean" Coffey who were quoted on their work,
respectively, in the UnitedHealth and Refco cases.
As part of the firm's legal action against UnitedHealth, on behalf of several pension fund
clients', Mr. Silk has asked the federal
court in Minnesota to freeze $2 billion in unexercised stock options previously granted
to the the company's CEO and COO: "We're basically asking the judge to take the key out
of the getaway car until the backdating mess is sorted out."
"Past success bodes well..."
Mr. Berger and Mr. Coffey served as Co-Lead Counsel for the class in the WorldCom Securities
Litigation and obtained over $6 billion from the investment banks who underwrote WorldCom bonds, WorldCom's former outside
directors and former auditor. According to the FT:
"The duo's past success bodes well for the clients they serve in their current endeavours,
including legal action against UnitedHealth for its stock option practices, and parties connected to Refco."
With respect to the firm's client's claims against Refco,
Mr. Coffey said, "we have very
aggressive goals for that case, for what we intend to recover,
and from whom we intend to recover it."
For more information about the firm, please contact us at
blbg@blbglaw.com.
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