Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup (Smith Barney) & Wachovia

This is a class action brought by a group of individuals alleging that Defendants engaged in deceptive and misleading "cash sweep" programs, in breach of their fiduciary duties, whereby Defendants, acting in the role and guise of Plaintiffs' "Financial Advisors," caused billions of their clients' uninvested cash to be automatically swept – not into money market accounts or comparable savings accounts currently yielding 4%-5%, as was the previous practice and as any disinterested and unconflicted financial advisor would require – but into Defendants' owned and controlled bank accounts, so that defendants were able to use their clients' uninvested cash for their own profit, achieving yields of 8% and higher, while paying their clients as little as less than 1% (collectively, the "Cash Sweep Programs").

This class action is brought on behalf of clients of defendant firms who have had the uninvested cash held in their brokerage accounts at defendant firms automatically swept into low interest bearing bank accounts (paying as low as less than one percent interest) at defendants' controlled and affiliated banks.

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To find out more about this case, please contact us at shareholderrelations@spornlaw.com or 212-964-0046.

Recent Settlements

· In re Nicor, Inc. Securities Litigation, 02-CV-5168 (N.D. Ill.)
July 9, 2004 - $39 million cash settlement
(Sole Lead Counsel)

· In re Westar Energy, Inc. Securities Litigation, 03-CV-4003 (D. Kansas)
September 1, 2005 - $30 million cash settlement
(Sole Lead Counsel)

· In re PNC Finacial Services Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, 02-CV-271(W.D. Penn.)
April 12, 2007 - $46.675 million recovery
(Co-lead Counsel)

· In re SPX Corp. Securities Litigation, 3:04-CV-99 (W.D.N.C.)
April 13, 2007 - $10 million cash settlement
(Sole Lead Counsel)

Client Resources

· Map Management, LLC
MAP Management, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor providing services to Individuals, multi-employer Taft-Hartley plans, Corporate Pension plans, Estates, and Foundations. By offering fixed fee arrangements, MAP provides unbiased and independent opinions, as well as helpful recommendations and education. Through a very personal process, MAP will develop a portfolio and a plan for your investments that is individualized to
your needs.

· HGK Asset Management
Since 1983, HGK Asset Management has been making the right decisions for investors in conservative fixed income and value equity portfolios. With about $3 billion currently under its management and more than 80 client relationships, HGK has expanded its original business that specialized in Taft-Hartley benefit and pension funds to include corporate pension, institutional and individual investment accounts.