PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Berger < Montague, P.C. filed a class action lawsuit on September 25, 2009 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired shares in the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares Fund (the SRS Fund), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) offered by ProShares Trust (ProShares), pursuant or traceable to ProShares false and misleading Registration Statement, Prospectuses, and Statements of Additional Information (collectively, the Registration Statement) issued in connection with the SRS Funds shares (the Class). The Class is seeking to pursue remedies under Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act).
If you sustained substantial losses on your purchases of the SRS Fund and would like to consider serving as lead plaintiff, or have any questions about the lawsuit, please contact Phyllis M. Parker, Esquire of Berger < Montague, P.C. at 888-891-2289, or via email at pparker@bm.net. Lead Plaintiff motion papers must be filed no later than October 5, 2009. A Lead Plaintiff is a court-appointed representative who acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint online at www.bergermontague.com.
The complaint names ProShares, ProShares Advisors LLC, SEI Investments Distribution Co., Michael L. Sapir, Louis M. Mayberg, Russell S. Reynolds, III, Michael Wachs, and Simon D. Collier, as defendants (collectively, Defendants). ProShares sell its UltraShort ETFs like the SRS Fund, as simple directional pays. As marketed by ProShares, UltraShort ETFs are designed to go up when markets go down. The SRS Fund seeks investment results that correspond to twice the inverse (-200%) daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index (DJREI), which measures the performance of the real estate sector of the U.S. equity market. The complaint alleges that, although ProShares represents that the SRS Fund delivers double the inverse return of the DJREI, the Fund is defective as a directional play or a hedge. For example, from January 2, 2008 through December 17, 2008, which was a period of extreme financial tumult and decline in the U.S. real estate markets, the DJREI fell 39.2%. The SRS Fund should have appreciated by 78.4% according to Defendants representations, but it actually fell 48.2% during this period. Therefore, SRS performed nearly the opposite of how it was represented and marketed.
The complaint alleges the Defendants violated the Securities Act by failing to disclose that the SRS Fund is altogether defective as a directional investment play and fails to perform anywhere near investors reasonable expectations. Defendants failed to disclose the following risks in the Registration Statement: (i) the mathematical probability that SRSs performance will fail to track the performance of the DJREI over any period longer than a single trading day; (ii) that greater volatility experienced by the DJREI will result in SRS underperforming the DJREI by a material amount; (iii) that SRS is not a directional play on the performance of financial stocks, but instead is dependent on the volatility and path the DJREI takes over any time period greater than a single day; (iv) that SRS was not a simple investment that could be used over time to hedge against a downturn in financial stocks; and (v) that based upon the mathematics of compounding and the volatility of the DJREI, SRS was highly unlikely to achieve its stated investment objectives over time periods longer than a single trading day.
For more information about this case and a more thorough explanation of the Lead Plaintiff selection process, please contact:
Sherrie R. Savett, Esq.
Barbara A. Podell, Esq.
Phyllis M. Parker, Esq.
Eric Lechtzin, Esq.
Kimberly A. Walker, Investor Relations Manager
BERGER < MONTAGUE, P.C.
1622 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Telephone: 1-888-891-2289 or 215-875-3000
Berger < Montague, founded in 1970, is a pioneer in class action litigation. The firms approximately 60 attorneys concentrate their practice in complex litigation, including securities fraud and corporate governance, antitrust, civil rights, consumer protection and environmental and mass torts, and have recovered billions of dollars for consumers and investors.
SOURCE Berger < Montague, P.C.
