Wamu WKN 893906 News !

Washington Mutual Inc. Shareholders See New Hope for Justice and Recoupment of Investment Losses

HOUSTON, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Washington Mutual Shareholders (Stock Symbols: WAMUQ, WAHUQ, WAMPQ, WAMKQ) are experiencing renewed optimism due to recent events involving WMI's Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The Chapter 11 filing followed the unprecedented seizure and "fire sale" of its banking unit by the FDIC. Through collaborative efforts online, shareholders have uncovered a significant amount of information regarding the seizure of the well-capitalized Washington Mutual Bank (found at http://www.wamustory.com/). They recently joined together to author this site and share their research findings amongst themselves and the public. The website has a plethora of documents, including links to official government documents regarding WaMu issues, pre and post seizure.

Shareholders have long seen problems with the way this "secret" auction (which was not very secret) was handled by the FDIC, and are pleased that an investigation has been requested through the Bankruptcy Court. Elliott Greenleaf and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges, the attorneys appointed through lead Chapter 11 legal counsel Weil Gotshal&Manges LLP, filed a motion in the bankruptcy court recently asking for a complete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the seizure and sale of WaMu Bank and all activities leading to the destruction of this 119 year old Seattle based institution. This motion was based on another lawsuit filed in Texas which questioned the circumstances of the bank seizure and accused JPMorgan of corruption, breach of confidentiality and other improper activities. Shareholders have long considered the seizure circumstances to be suspect and have written thousands of letters to legislators asking for a complete investigation. Their pleas to Congress seem to have been ignored to date.

At the time of seizure, Washington Mutual had $307 Billion in assets and was sold to JPMorgan for a mere 1.88 Billion dollars within hours by the FDIC. At the time of seizure, Washington Mutual Inc had 4 Billion dollars in a cash account, which has been recently laid claim to by JP Morgan.

In comparison, IndyMac, with only $32 Billion in assets was sold for $13.9 Billion in the following weeks. Indymac had only 33 branch offices as compared to Washington Mutual's 2,239 branches and 4,932 branded ATMs.

As a result of this seemingly unfair compensation for WMI assets, WMI attorneys Weil, Gotshal&Manges LLP have also filed suit against the FDIC seeking proper compensation for the reasonable value of the assets seized by the OTS, and sold by the FDIC in the "fire sale." That matter is currently pending in a separate Federal court action.

Washington Mutual Shareholders feel that it is self evident that the sale of WaMu Bank was extremely flawed, and they are expecting the U.S. Federal Court system to right these wrongs. They see these recent court filings as a big step in the right direction.