| Company: | American International Group, Inc. |
| Ticker Symbol: | NYSE: AIG |
| Class Period: | June 30, 2000 to June 8, 2005 |
| Date Filed: | May-09-06 |
| Lead Plaintiff Deadline: | Jun-06-06 |
| Court: | Eastern District, NY |
| Allegations: |
A class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of all those who purchased AIM mutual funds from the AIG Advisor Group (Parent company is defendant American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), hereinafter "AIG" or the "Company") from June 30, 2000 through June 8, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period").
During the Class Period, the AIG Advisor Group consisted of the following broker-dealers: Royal Alliance, Inc., SunAmerica Securities, Inc., FSC Securities Corp., Sentra Securities Corporation, Spelman & Co., Inc., and Advantage Capital Corp.
On June 8, 2005, the NASD announced that it had fined AIG in connection with the receipt of directed brokerage in exchange for preferential treatment for certain mutual fund companies and certain mutual fund families (the "Shelf-Space Funds").
The Shelf-Space Funds included the following mutual fund families: AIG SunAmerica, AIM, AllianceBernstein, American Funds, American Skandia, Columbia, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Hartford, John Hancock, MFS, NationsFunds, Pacific Life, Pioneer, Putnam, Oppenheimer, Scudder, Van Kampen, and WM Funds Distributor, Inc.
The Complaint charges AIG and certain of its affiliated entities with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. More specifically, the Complaint alleges that the defendants, in clear contravention of their disclosure obligations and fiduciary responsibilities, failed to properly disclose that they had been aggressively pushing sales personnel to sell the Shelf-Space Funds that provided financial incentives and rewards to AIG and its personnel based on sales. Instead of offering fair, honest and unbiased recommendations to investors, the AIG Financial Advisors gave pre-determined recommendations, pushing clients into a pre-selected limited number of mutual funds so that the Financial Advisors could reap millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Shelf-Space Funds, with which they had struck secret, highly lucrative deals to profit at shareholders' expense. The defendants' sales practices created a material insurmountable conflict of interest between the defendants and their clients by providing substantial monetary incentives to sell Shelf-Space Funds, sales of which increased the defendants' overall profits, but diminished investors' returns in the process. While Shelf-Space Funds were aggressively sold to investors, the defendants failed to disclose any of these financial incentives for selling such funds. The conflict of interest created by the defendants' failure to disclose the incentives is a clear violation of federal securities laws.
If you acquired the securities of the defendants during the Class Period you may, no later than the Lead Plaintiff Deadline shown above, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff through counsel of your choice. You may also choose to remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff must meet certain requirements.
During the Class Period, the AIG Advisor Group consisted of the following broker-dealers: Royal Alliance, Inc., SunAmerica Securities, Inc., FSC Securities Corp., Sentra Securities Corporation, Spelman & Co., Inc., and Advantage Capital Corp.
On June 8, 2005, the NASD announced that it had fined AIG in connection with the receipt of directed brokerage in exchange for preferential treatment for certain mutual fund companies and certain mutual fund families (the "Shelf-Space Funds").
The Shelf-Space Funds included the following mutual fund families: AIG SunAmerica, AIM, AllianceBernstein, American Funds, American Skandia, Columbia, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Hartford, John Hancock, MFS, NationsFunds, Pacific Life, Pioneer, Putnam, Oppenheimer, Scudder, Van Kampen, and WM Funds Distributor, Inc.
The Complaint charges AIG and certain of its affiliated entities with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. More specifically, the Complaint alleges that the defendants, in clear contravention of their disclosure obligations and fiduciary responsibilities, failed to properly disclose that they had been aggressively pushing sales personnel to sell the Shelf-Space Funds that provided financial incentives and rewards to AIG and its personnel based on sales. Instead of offering fair, honest and unbiased recommendations to investors, the AIG Financial Advisors gave pre-determined recommendations, pushing clients into a pre-selected limited number of mutual funds so that the Financial Advisors could reap millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Shelf-Space Funds, with which they had struck secret, highly lucrative deals to profit at shareholders' expense. The defendants' sales practices created a material insurmountable conflict of interest between the defendants and their clients by providing substantial monetary incentives to sell Shelf-Space Funds, sales of which increased the defendants' overall profits, but diminished investors' returns in the process. While Shelf-Space Funds were aggressively sold to investors, the defendants failed to disclose any of these financial incentives for selling such funds. The conflict of interest created by the defendants' failure to disclose the incentives is a clear violation of federal securities laws.
If you acquired the securities of the defendants during the Class Period you may, no later than the Lead Plaintiff Deadline shown above, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff through counsel of your choice. You may also choose to remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff must meet certain requirements.
