Trading in the Options of Lotus Development Corporation Insider Trading Distribution Fund

Between May 28, 1999 and December 20, 2000, the SEC obtained final judgments against 22 individual defendants who had been charged with insider trading. The SEC alleged that on June 2, 1995, the defendants traded the common stock and options (i.e., June 1995 call option contracts with a strike price of $30 and $35) of Lotus Development Corporation while in possession of inside information concerning a proposed merger between IBM and Lotus. The merger was announced before the market opened on June 5, 1995, the next trading day. Under the final judgments, the defendants have paid disgorgement and prejudgment interest of approximately $1.1 million. Those who sold the June Lotus options on June 2nd are eligible to participate in the distribution.

Please note that the distribution fund does not include those who sold Lotus common stock on June 2nd. This is because only two of the defendants purchased Lotus common stock and the amount they've disgorged is too small, relative to number of contemporaneous sellers of Lotus common stock, to justify a separate distribution.

The SEC has posted numerous litigation releases about this matter on its website.

On December 19, 2005, the Court appointed Robert Knuts, Esq., as Receiver to take possession and make a distribution of the funds to eligible claimants. The claims submission period is now closed. Throughout the summer, the Receiver contacted all eligible claimants for which the Receiver was able to obtain current contact information. The Receiver has reviewed all claim forms along with supporting documentation submitted by eligible claimants. At this time, the Receiver is in the process of drafting a Report and Recommendations to the Court.

If you have questions, including those about the Report or the close of the claims submission period, you can send by e-mail to LotusOptionsReceiver@dbh.com.

http://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/claims/lotusdevelopment.htm