Deutsche Bank AG, German bank WestLB AG and Italian bank Caboto Holding Sim joined most of the other financial institution-defendants in the WorldCom class action yesterday in agreeing to settle fraud allegations for their participation in the sale of WorldCom Inc. bonds in 2000 and 2001. The settlements come on the eve of a scheduled trial of the case next week, and leaves JP Morgan Chase and a couple of smaller financial institutions as the only remaining defendants in the case. This link will take you to the previous posts on the WorldCom class action settlements.
Deutsche Bank’s settlement amount is $325 million, while WestLB agreed to pay $75 million and Caboto $37.5 million. Those amounts increase the WorldCom class action settlement pot to about $3.7 billion, which is for the time being the largest recovery ever in in a securities class-action lawsuit. Nevertheless, sharpies on such matters are already betting that the settlement pot and/or damages awarded against the financial institution-defendants in the Enron class action will lap the WorldCom settlement pot by several billion.