If you have lost money as a result of reporting fraud from a corporation in which you hold stock, then you can become part of one of many securities class action lawsuits happening across the country.

If a corporation misrepresents their financial results or even their expectations, they are committing a crime against the Securities Act of 1933.  In 2008, securities class action lawsuits against financial institutions soared.  In fact, almost one third of all large financial firms in the country were a named defendant in a securities class action lawsuit that year.

Securities Class Action Lawsuits can be divided into three major types of offenses:

1. broker fraud
2. shareholder derivative lawsuits
3. accounting fraud

Broker Fraud

If a corporation propped up their stock by disseminating false good news or other techniques, or increased optimistic expectations about their stock value, this is broker fraud.

Accounting Fraud

If the company intentionally misleads regulators and/or their shareholders about the financial activities, this is accounting fraud.

Shareholder Derivative Lawsuits

If the company hid important information from shareholders, or if mismanagement caused harm to shareholder’s share value, this is ground for shareholder derivative lawsuits.