RADNOR, Pa., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued today by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP:
Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of all those who purchased Putnam mutual funds from the AIG Advisor Group (Parent company is defendant American International Group, Inc. , hereinafter "AIG" or the "Company") from June 30, 2000 through June 8, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period").
During the Class Period, the AIG Advisor Group consisted of the following broker-dealers: Royal Alliance, Inc., SunAmerica Securities, Inc., FSC Securities Corp., Sentra Securities Corporation, Spelman & Co., Inc., and Advantage Capital Corp.
The Putnam mutual funds and their respective symbols are as follows:
Putnam American Government Income Fund
Putnam Arizona Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Asset Allocation: Balanced Portfolio
Putnam Asset Allocation: Conservative Portfolio
Putnam Asset Allocation: Growth Portfolio
Putnam California Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Capital Appreciation Fund
Putnam Capital Opportunities Fund
Putnam Classic Equity Fund
Putnam Convertible Income-Growth Trust
Putnam Discovery Growth Fund
Putnam Diversified Income Trust
Putnam Equity Income Fund
Putnam Europe Equity Fund
Putnam Florida Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Fund for Growth and Income
George Putnam Fund of Boston
Putnam Global Equity Fund
Putnam Global Income Trust
Putnam Global Natural Resources Fund
Putnam Growth Opportunities Fund
Putnam Health Sciences Trust
Putnam High Yield Advantage Fund
Putnam High Yield Trust
Putnam Income Fund
Putnam Limited Duration Government Fund
Putnam International Capital Opportunities Fund
Putnam International Equity Fund
Putnam International Growth and Income Fund
Putnam International New Opportunities Fund
Putnam Investors Fund
Putnam Massachusetts Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Michigan Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Mid Cap Value Fund
Putnam Minnesota Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Money Market Fund
Putnam Municipal Income Fund
Putnam New Jersey Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam New Opportunities Fund
Putnam New Value Fund
Putnam New York Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam New York Tax Exempt Opportunities Fund
Putnam OTC & Emerging Growth Fund
Putnam Ohio Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Pennsylvania Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Research Fund
Putnam Small Cap Growth Fund
Putnam Small Cap Value Fund
Putnam Tax Exempt Income Fund
Putnam Tax Exempt Money Market Fund
Putnam Tax Smart Equity Fund
Putnam Tax-Free High Yield Fund
Putnam Tax-Free Insured Fund
Putnam U.S. Government Income Trust
Putnam Utilities Growth and Income Fund
Putnam Vista Fund
Putnam Voyager Fund
On June 8, 2005, the NASD announced that it had fined AIG in connection with the receipt of directed brokerage in exchange for preferential treatment for certain mutual fund companies and certain mutual fund families (the "Shelf-Space Funds").
The Shelf-Space Funds included the following mutual fund families: AIG SunAmerica, AIM, AllianceBernstein, American Funds, American Skandia, Columbia, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Hartford, John Hancock, MFS, NationsFunds, Pacific Life, Pioneer, Putnam, Oppenheimer, Scudder, Van Kampen, and WM Funds Distributor, Inc.
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP (Darren J. Check, Esq. or Richard A. Maniskas, Esq.) toll-free at 1-888-299-7706 or 1-610-667-7706, or via e-mail at
The Complaint charges AIG and certain of its affiliated entities with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. More specifically, the Complaint alleges that the defendants, in clear contravention of their disclosure obligations and fiduciary responsibilities, failed to properly disclose that they had been aggressively pushing sales personnel to sell the Shelf-Space Funds that provided financial incentives and rewards to AIG and its personnel based on sales. Instead of offering fair, honest and unbiased recommendations to investors, the AIG Financial Advisors gave pre-determined recommendations, pushing clients into a pre-selected limited number of mutual funds so that the Financial Advisors could reap millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Shelf-Space Funds, with which they had struck secret, highly-lucrative deals to profit at shareholders' expense. The defendants' sales practices created a material insurmountable conflict of interest between the defendants and their clients by providing substantial monetary incentives to sell Shelf-Space Funds, sales of which increased the defendants' overall profits, but diminished investors' returns in the process. While Shelf-Space Funds were aggressively sold to investors, the defendants failed to disclose any of these financial incentives for selling such funds. The conflict of interest created by the defendants' failure to disclose the incentives is a clear violation of federal securities laws.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of class members and is represented by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, which prosecutes class actions in both state and federal courts throughout the country. Schiffrin & Barroway is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors from the United States and around the world. For more information about Schiffrin & Barroway, or to sign up to participate in this action online, please visit http://www.sbclasslaw.com/
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than June 6, 2006, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Schiffrin & Barroway, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
CONTACT: Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP
Darren J. Check, Esq.
Richard A. Maniskas, Esq.
280 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087
1-888-299-7706 (toll-free) or 1-610-667-7706
Or by e-mail at
