State
Comptroller Alan Hevesi has filed a securities
fraud lawsuit against Qwest Communications International
Inc. and its auditor, Arthur Andersen, for $250
million to recoup losses suffered by the state
Common Retirement Fund. Hevesi said they lost the
money as a result of phoney accounting practices
that inflated Qwest's stock price.
Hevesi
had opted out of a securities fraud class action
lawsuit against Qwest, based in Denver, and the other
defendants that were the target of a securities fraud
class action brought in 2001 in Colorado Federal
District Court.
To
date, he said that case has recovered a partial settlement
of $400 million to reimburse investors who lost billions
of dollars. Based on this settlement, New York would
have only received $1.5 million of the $250 million
in estimated losses. Hevesi is represented in this
action by the securities fraud law firm of Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP. |
