RADNOR, Pa., May 12 /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 Fidelity 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 Fidelity mutual funds and their respective symbols are as follows:
Fidelity Advisor Intl Sm Cap Opp
Fidelity Aggressive Growth
Fidelity Aggressive Intl
Fidelity Arizona Municipal Income
Fidelity Asset Manager
Fidelity Asset Manager: Aggressive
Fidelity Asset Manager: Growth
Fidelity Asset Manager: Income
Fidelity Balanced
Fidelity Blue Chip Growth
Fidelity Blue Chip Value Fund
Fidelity California Municipal Income
Fidelity Canada
Fidelity Capital & Income
Fidelity Capital Appreciation
Fidelity China Region
Fidelity Congress Street
Fidelity Connecticut Municipal Income
Fidelity Contrafund
Fidelity Convertible Securities
Fidelity Disciplined Equity
Fidelity Discovery Fund
Fidelity Diversified International
Fidelity Dividend Growth
Fidelity Emerging Markets
Fidelity Equity-Income
Fidelity Equity-Income II
Fidelity Europe
Fidelity Europe Capital Appreciation
Fidelity Exchange
Fidelity Export & Multinational
Fidelity Fifty
Fidelity Floating Rate High Income
Fidelity Florida Municipal Income
Fidelity Focused Stock
Fidelity Four-in-One Index
Fidelity Freedom 2000
Fidelity Freedom 2005
Fidelity Freedom 2010
Fidelity Freedom 2015
Fidelity Freedom 2020
Fidelity Freedom 2025
Fidelity Freedom 2030
Fidelity Freedom 2035
Fidelity Freedom 2040
Fidelity Freedom Income
Fidelity Ginnie Mae
Fidelity Global Balanced
Fidelity Government Income
Fidelity Growth & Income
Fidelity Growth & Income II
Fidelity Growth Company
Fidelity High Income
Fidelity Independence
Fidelity Inflation-Protected Bond
Fidelity Instl Short-Interm Govt
Fidelity Intermediate Bond
Fidelity Intermediate Government
Fidelity Intermediate Municipal Income
Fidelity International Discovery
Fidelity International Small Cap
Fidelity International Small Cap Opp
Fidelity Investment Grade Bond
Fidelity Japan
Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies
Fidelity Large Cap Growth
Fidelity Large Cap Stock
Fidelity Large Cap Value
Fidelity Latin America
Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock
Fidelity Low-Priced Stock
Fidelity Magellan
Fidelity Maryland Municipal Income
Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Income
Fidelity Michigan Municipal Income
Fidelity Mid Cap Growth
Fidelity Mid Cap Value
Fidelity Mid-Cap Stock
Fidelity Minnesota Municipal Income
Fidelity Mortgage Secs
Fidelity Municipal Income
Fidelity NASDAQ Composite Index
Fidelity New Jersey Municipal Income
Fidelity New Markets Income
Fidelity New Millennium
Fidelity New York Municipal Income
Fidelity Nordic
Fidelity Ohio Municipal Income
Fidelity OTC
Fidelity Overseas
Fidelity Pacific Basin
Fidelity Pennsylvania Municipal Income
Fidelity Puritan
Fidelity Real Estate Income
Fidelity Real Estate Investment
Fidelity Select Air Transportation
Fidelity Select Automotive
Fidelity Select Banking
Fidelity Select Biotechnology
Fidelity Select Brokerage & Investmnt
Fidelity Select Business Serv & Outsrcg
Fidelity Select Chemicals
Fidelity Select Computers
Fidelity Select Construction & Housing
Fidelity Select Consumer Industries
Fidelity Select Cyclical Industries
Fidelity Select Defense & Aerospace
Fidelity Select Developing Comm
Fidelity Select Electronics
Fidelity Select Energy
Fidelity Select Energy Service
Fidelity Select Environmental
Fidelity Select Financial Services
Fidelity Select Food & Agriculture
Fidelity Select Gold
Fidelity Select Health Care
Fidelity Select Home Finance
Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment
Fidelity Select Industrial Materials
Fidelity Select Insurance
Fidelity Select Leisure
Fidelity Select Medical Delivery
Fidelity Select Medical Equip/Systems
Fidelity Select Multimedia
Fidelity Select Natural Gas
Fidelity Select Natural Resources
Fidelity Select Network & Infrastruct
Fidelity Select Paper & Forest Prod
Fidelity Select Pharmaceuticals
Fidelity Select Retailing
Fidelity Select Software & Comp
Fidelity Select Technology
Fidelity Select Telecommunications
Fidelity Select Transportation
Fidelity Select Utilities Growth
Fidelity Select Wireless
Fidelity Short-Intermediate Muni Income
Fidelity Short-Term Bond
Fidelity Small Cap Growth
Fidelity Small Cap Independence
Fidelity Small Cap Retirement
Fidelity Small Cap Stock
Fidelity Small Cap Value
Fidelity Southeast Asia
Fidelity Spartan 500 Index
Fidelity Spartan Extended Mkt Index
Fidelity Spartan Government Income
Fidelity Spartan International Index
Fidelity Spartan Investment Gr Bond
Fidelity Spartan Total Market Index
Fidelity Spartan U.S. Equity Index
Fidelity Stock Selector
Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income
Fidelity Strategic Income
Fidelity Tax-Free Bond
Fidelity Tax-Managed Stock
Fidelity Total Bond
Fidelity Trend
Fidelity U.S. Bond Index
Fidelity Ultra-Short Bond
Fidelity Utilities
Fidelity Value
Fidelity Value Discovery
Fidelity Value Strategies
Fidelity Worldwide
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