Piper Jaffray Agrees to Pay $10 Million
April 26, 2011
Vastopolis -- Piper Jaffray Inc. agreed to pay $10 million to settle claims that it took part in an alleged securities fraud by Bonneville Pacific Corp., an alternative-energy concern.  filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection in 1991, owing more than $400 million to investors, creditors and others. The company's court-appointed trustee alleged in a 2009 civil lawsuit that top  executives and the company's professional advisers conspired to inflate the company's assets and file fraudulent securities statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray acted as investment banker and was involved in public offerings of  securities between 1986 and 1989. In a statement, Piper Jaffray said it decided to settle to avoid the risks and expenses of litigation. The settlement agreement must be approved by the Bankruptcy Court and federal court in   . Piper Jaffray's settlement is one of several obtained recently by the bankruptcy trustee. Deloitte & Touche, the accounting firm, agreed to pay $65 million. Mayer, Brown & Platt, a law firm, settled for $30 million and the Perkins Coie law firm agreed to pay $12.7 million. Piper Jaffray noted that it continues to be a defendant, along with other professional advisers, in a purported class action related to debt and equity underwriting and secondary trading of its stock. Piper Jaffray said defendants' motion to dismiss that case is pending.
