NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Securities Law Firm of Klayman & Toskes, P.A. (http://www.nasd-law.com), representing numerous high net-worth investors throughout the nation, advises all investors of Citigroup's MAT Five Fund who are eligible to participate in the settlement of the Raymond, et al. v. MAT Five, LLC, et al., Case No. 3843-VCL, class action ("Class Action"), that they have until December 5, 2008 to opt-out of the Class Action.
According to the terms of the settlement, investors have four options. Three of those options are if the investor stays in the class, and one option is for the investor to opt-out of the class. If the investor stays in the class, they can either choose to keep the shares of the fund, or exchange the shares. If an investor chooses to keep the shares, they get an additional $0.05 per share. However, if an investor elects to exchange their shares, there are two options. They will get $0.05 per existing share held, the value of the Fund on a certain date, and the option of choosing interest shares or participation shares for each share held. Klayman & Toskes encourages investors to explore all of their legal options before choosing to participate in the class action, including whether they should file an individual securities arbitration claim.
Empirical evidence shows that investors may achieve an overall higher rate of recovery by filing an individual claim. Moreover, when an investor files a securities arbitration claim, their individual, personalized case facts are considered by the Panel, and they are factored into the value of the case. Comparatively, these individual case facts are not considered in a class action.
Klayman & Toskes is pursuing arbitration claims against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (NYSE:C) on behalf of investors for losses sustained in Citigroup's MAT Five Fund, with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). The claims allege that Citigroup solicited many of its high net worth customers to invest in the Fund. Citigroup represented that the investment was a fixed income product that would provide tax-free returns of 5% to 8%, and that it was a "safe" and "secure" investment, not subject to a significant amount of volatility. However, the managers of the MAT Five Fund implemented risky, speculative trading strategies which resulted in the investment losing about 80% in value. Further, it is believed that Citigroup failed to adequately monitor the Fund and failed to implement risk management strategies to prevent the Fund managers from investing the assets in risky and speculative investments.
Klayman & Toskes reminds investors of the benefits of filing an individual arbitration claim, as opposed to participating in a class action lawsuit. In 2003, Klayman & Toskes conducted a detailed study of securities arbitration versus class action. The study concluded that investors who file a securities arbitration claim traditionally obtain an overall higher rate of recovery as opposed to participating in a class action lawsuit. To view the full results of the comparison, please visit our web-site: http://www.nasd-law.com/documents/classvr.pdf
As such, Klayman & Toskes will continue to represent individual investors who purchased Citigroup's MAT Five Fund to recover their financial losses in securities arbitration claims before FINRA. Klayman & Toskes encourages all class members of the Raymond, et al. v. MAT Five, LLC, et al. class action to contact Steven D. Toskes, Esquire or Jahan K. Manasseh, Esquire of Klayman & Toskes, P.A., at 888-997-9956, to discuss their legal options and/or the possibility of pursuing an individual securities arbitration claim. You may also visit us on the web at http://www.nasd-law.com.