SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, an investor-rights law firm, alerts investors of the Oct. 27, 2014, lead plaintiff deadline in a securities fraud class action against Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SC) ("Santander" or "the Company"). Investors who purchased Santander pursuant or traceable to Santander's Initial Public Offering on January 23, 2014, (the "IPO") should contact Hagens Berman Partner Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm's investigation, by calling 510-725-3000, emailing SC@hbsslaw.com or visiting http://hb-securities.com/investigations/SC. Santander's IPO priced shares at $24 and managed to sell over 85.2 million shares.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 26, 2014, and docketed under 14-CV-6942, alleges that Santander's Registration Statement and Prospectus contained materially false or misleading statements or omitted material information about the Company's automobile loan underwriting and securitization practices. In the first few days of trading, while Santander's share price was near historical high prices, insiders sold hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Santander stock.
On August 7, 2014, after the close of the market, Santander revealed that it received a civil subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. When trading resumed the next day, shares dropped in value by $.28 or over 1% to close on at $17.95 – a 25% decrease from the IPO price of $24.
"We are investigating the extent to which Santander concealed the truth about its underwriting and securitization of nonprime auto loans," said Mr. Kathrein. "Santander misled shareholders long enough to pocket enormous insider profits and then when forced to reveal the investigation of its underwriting and securitization practices, it all came crashing down and shareholders paid the price."
Persons with non-public information regarding Santander should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new SEC Whistleblower program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000 or email SC@hbsslaw.com.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is an investor-rights class-action law firm with offices in nine cities. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Read the firm's Securities Newsletter at http://www.hb-securities.com/newsletter. The firm's blog is located at www.meaningfuldisclosure.com.
For the latest news from Hagens Berman, visit http://www.hbsslaw.com/newsroom or follow us on Twitter: @classactionlaw.