Compliance January 22, 2009

Law Firms Investigating State Street 401(k) Fiduciaries

Two class action law firms are investigating conduct that they believe may have caused losses to State Street’s 401(k) plan and might have violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Reported by

The law firms of Pyle, Rome, Lichten, Ehrenberg & Liss-Riordan, P.C., and Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne, LLC, announced they are investigating whether certain fiduciaries of the State Street Salary Savings Program knew or should have known that statements regarding the company’s financial health were inaccurate, which the law firms contend may have caused the price of State Street’s shares to be artificially inflated.

Specifically, according to the announcement, the firms are investigating whether State Street breached its fiduciary obligations under ERISA by:

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  • continuing to offer State Street common stock as an investment option for participant contributions when it was imprudent to do so;
  • failing to take action to sell State Street stock or otherwise protect the plan’s assets;
  • failing to adequately disclose alleged problems with off-balance sheet assets.


More information is available at www.prle.com or www.stemberfeinstein.com.

Stember Feinstein announced a number of similar investigations since the economic downturn began (see “Pharmaceutical Company Could Face Company Stock Suit’).

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