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Wednesday, March 15, 2000 KPMG Settles KPMG Peat Marwick has agreed to settle a class action by the investors in Piper Funds Institutional Government Income Portfolio for $13.9 million, paid out to 8,000 investors who lost money in the Piper Jaffray fund in 1994.
This is the first time an accounting firm has taken responsibility for investors' losses, but the precedent that KPMG sets may create more lawsuits in the future, according to industry insiders. "I think that the next time we see a market downturn, more cases like this will be brought up," said John Baker of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, a Washington- based law firm. "The more immediate import is that KPMG was interested enough to pay almost $14 million to make it go away -- it is both surprising and striking." The KPMG case was in litigation for more than five years. The settlement was first reached right before the trial was to begin, in January, but was kept private until now. The accounting firm decided it was less expensive to settle than to continue fighting the case, settlement documents said. Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=25596 Copyright 2000, InvestmentWires, Inc. All Rights Reserved |