Page Perry LLC: Arbitrators Award Investors $1.8 Million and Find Citigroup Affiliates Mismanaged MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Funds

ATLANTA, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- An arbitration ruling against two Citigroup affiliates bodes well for investors in the controversial Citigroup MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage products, according to two leading securities law firms that represent investors in related Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration proceedings.

A FINRA arbitration panel recently awarded more than $1.8 million to two clients represented by Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., of Boca Raton, Fla. in connection with their purchases of MAT/ASTA investments. The panel specifically found that Respondents Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., formerly known as Citigroup Investment Services, and Citigroup Alternative Investments, LLC negligently mismanaged MAT/ASTA funds and negligently supervised employees.

Robert Wayne Pearce and Atlanta-based Page Perry LLC have, effective immediately, affiliated themselves in order to prosecute future MAT/ASTA claims for clients.

Robert Wayne Pearce stated, "Citigroup sold these products like tickets on the Titanic and, with this ruling, they're going to pay their victims whose investments they sunk. Citigroup tried the 'blame the customer defense,' but blaming the customer does not make sense for Citigroup's failing to follow its own investment strategy and then sailing MAT/ASTA directly into the storm it saw on the horizon. The negligent management claim now is available to all MAT/ASTA investors, including employees not involved in the management of the funds."

J. Boyd Page, senior partner of Page Perry LLC, stated, "The award and Bob Pearce's extraordinary work are particularly noteworthy because the arbitration panel expressly found that Citigroup's affiliates mismanaged the fund, and also that they failed to supervise employees. Specific findings like those made by the arbitration panel in this case are unusual, and suggest the arbitrators intended to send a message."

MAT/ASTA was a series of leveraged municipal arbitrage hedge funds offered by Citigroup Fixed Income Alternatives and sold through Smith Barney and Citigroup Private Bankers. MAT/ASTA was marketed only to high net worth clients of the firm as a fixed income alternative.

Pearce added, "In truth, the MAT/ASTA funds were risky investments that exposed investors to a 100 percent or more loss of principal. The funds imploded in early 2008 causing catastrophic losses to investors. This award should open the door for many investors to recover the damages they sustained in their MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage investments."

The case is "Gerald J. Kazma, as Trustee of the Gerald J. Kazma Revocable Trust, et al. vs. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., et al.," FINRA Dispute Resolution Arbitration Number 09-02697.

Attorney Contacts: J. Boyd Page, Page Perry LLC, Atlanta, www.pageperry.com, 770-673-0047; Robert Wayne Pearce, The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., Boca Raton, Fla., www.secatty.com, 561-338-0037.

SOURCE Page Perry, LLC