San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/18/2012 -- The court certified the class in the lawsuit filed by investors in NYSE:BAC shares connection with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in 2009. That means the court defined the investors who are included in the class action and who are affected by this lawsuit. Affected investors in NYSE:BAC should have received in the past few weeks a notice from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In the notice four investor groups were defined that are affected by the lawsuit and those investors have certain options.

Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired a substantial amount of common stock of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) during the period from September 18, 2008 through January 21, 2009, or held a substantial amount of NYSE:BAC shares on October 10, 2008 and were entitled to vote on the merger on January 1, 2009, have certain options and there are strict deadlines running. Deadline: May 7, 2012. Those NYSE:BAC stockholders should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail(at)shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

The court said that, among two other groups, all investors are affected who held Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) common stock as of October 10, 2008, and were entitled to vote on the merger between Bank of America Corporation and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. that was consummated on January 1, 2009, and all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) during the period from September 18, 2008 through January 21, 2009, inclusive, excluding shares of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) common stock acquired by exchanging Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. common stock for Bank of America Corporation common stock through the merger between the two companies. According to the notice affected investors have until May 7, 2012 to take actions.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2009. On September 15, 2008, Bank of America agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction in which shares of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc common stock would be exchanged for 0.8595 shares of BoA common stock.

Then beginning in January 2009, numerous putative securities fraud class actions were filed against Bank of America, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc, and certain officers and directors of both companies related to the merger

The plaintiff claimed that in Bank of America's January 1, 2009 announcement that the merger had closed, Kenneth Lewis, the former chief executive of Bank of America, made no mention of the losses. However, so the plaintiff, then on January 16, 2009, Bank of America disclosed Merrill Lynch's preliminary 2008 fourth quarter loss of $15.3 billion. Merrill Lynch's fourth quarter 2008 "principal transactions" revenue was negative $13.1 billion, reflecting a net loss owing to write-downs, mark-to-market valuation declines and other losses on assets held in its trading portfolio.

It is alleged that as a result of this massive loss Bank of America was compelled to seek additional funding and asset guarantees from the United States Treasury Department. Following these disclosures, Bank of America shares declined by 31% between January 14, 2009 and January 16, 2009.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleged that the Proxy Statement contained material misrepresentations and failed to disclose facts necessary to make the disclosures true. Specifically, so the plaintiff, defendants' misrepresentations and omissions include the failure to update, amend or correct the Proxy Statement to reflect, among other things, the risk or existence of Merrill Lynch's fourth quarter losses, prior to the December 5, 2008 vote by Bank of America shareholders to approve the Merger.

Those who purchased or otherwise acquired a substantial amount of common stock of Bank of America Corporation during the period from September 18, 2008 through January 21, 2009, or held a substantial amount of NYSE:BAC shares on October 10, 2008 and were entitled to vote on the merger on January 1, 2009, have certain options and there are strict deadlines running. Deadline: May 7, 2012. Those NYSE:BAC stockholders should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Trevor Allen
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com