MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE

I'm still surprised that there aren't an avalanche of civil lawsuits against the Wall Street MOTU.

Major Bear Stearns investor files fraud lawsuit
Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:04pm EDT

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - One of Bear Stearns Cos' largest former investors has sued JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), two former top Bear executives and an auditor to recover for losses from a "valuation fraud" that he said led to Bear's collapse and takeover by JPMorgan at a fire-sale price.

The 62-page lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday by Bruce Sherman, who said he was for several years "arguably Bear's most visible institutional investor" as the chief executive of Private Capital Management LP. He said he once controlled 5.9 percent of Bear shares.

Billionaire investor Joseph Lewis had amassed a larger stake in Bear by the time of the company's collapse.

Sherman accused Bear, its former chief executive James Cayne and former co-president Warren Spector, and its former auditor Deloitte & Touche LLP of overstating the value of its mortgage, asset-backed and derivative securities, the adequacy of its liquidity and capital, and the quality of management.