| Company: | Stifel Financial Corporation |
| Ticker Symbol: | SF |
| Class Period: | Jun-11-03 to Feb-13-08 |
| Date Filed: | Aug-8-08 |
| Lead Plaintiff Deadline: | Oct-7-08 |
| Court: | District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri |
| Allegations: | |
According to the complaint St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. and its subsidiary Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and deceived investors about the investment risks of auction rate securities and the auction market in which the securities are traded. Specifically the plaintiff alleges that through sales materials and top-down management directives, Stifel Financial Corp. and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. sold and represented auction rate securities to the public as "cash equivalents or better than money markets."
Auction-rate securities are preferred shares or debt instruments with rates that reset regularly, usually every week, in auctions overseen by the brokerage firms that originally sold them. The $300 billion market for the investments collapsed in February, 2008 and according to Barry Silbert, chief executive of Restricted Stock Partners in New York investors still hold more than $200 billion of them. Banks attracted thousands of investors to auction-rate securities in recent years by telling them that the securities were safe and liquid as Treasury bonds.But then the market collapsed investors were unable to liquidate their auction rate securities. The lawsuit alleges that Stifel Financial Corp. failed to disclose the following material facts about the auction rate securities.
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.
