2011-05-20 21:45:28 -

Labaton Sucharow LLP and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, on behalf of the Lead Plaintiffs today announced the settlement of two proposed class actions brought against OppenheimerFunds, Inc., among others, and certain officers and trustees of two funds – Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund and Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund.

The settlements total $100 million – $52.5 million in In re Oppenheimer Champion Fund Securities Fraud Class Actions and a $47.5 million settlement in In re Core Bond Fund. Labaton Sucharow LLP is Lead Counsel for the proposed class and Hagens Berman LLP is additional counsel for the Lead Plaintiffs. The settlements are subject to approval by the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

“We believe these funds were presented as

safe and conservative investments to consumers. We are pleased that we could recover some of the classes’ losses and, hopefully, improve transparency in the way that these types of funds are managed in the future,” said Labaton Sucharow Senior Partner Jonathan M. Plasse, who led the cases for Labaton Sucharow.

The lawsuits alleged that the investment policies followed by the funds resulted in investor losses when the funds suffered drops in net asset value.

“We are proud of these settlements,” said Sean Matt, partner of Hagens Berman. “If approved by the court, they will allow investors to recover a significant portion of their recoverable losses. We look forward to presenting the settlements to the court for its approval.”


Defendants vigorously defended the actions and have admitted no liability in the settlements.



About Labaton Sucharow

Labaton Sucharow LLP, with offices in New York, New York and Wilmington, Delaware, is one of the country’s premier law firms representing institutional investors in class action and complex securities litigation, as well as consumers and businesses in class actions seeking to recover damages for anticompetitive practices. The Firm has been a champion of investor and consumer rights for close to 50 years, seeking recovery of current losses and necessary governance reforms to protect investors and consumers. Labaton Sucharow has been recognized for its excellence by the courts and its peers. More information about Labaton Sucharow is available at www.labaton.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww ..



About Hagens Berman

Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP represents whistleblowers, investors and consumers in complex and class-action litigation. The firm has offices in Boston, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Founded in 1993, HBSS continues to successfully fight for investor rights in large, complex litigation. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .
Visit the firm’s class-action law blog at www.classactionlawtoday.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

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Labaton Sucharow LLPJennifer Bankston, 212-907-0659 jbankston@labaton.com : mailto:jbankston@labaton.com orFirmani
+ Associates Inc.Mark Firmani, 206-443-9357 mark@firmani.com : mailto:mark@firmani.com