News Resources Regarding this Class Action Lawsuit
12/16/2008 The Spokesman Review.com "Sandifur to pay $150,000 settlement" C. Paul Sandifur, the former chief executive officer of bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., will pay $150,000 to refund investors and settle allegations that he improperly paid himself dividends as the company failed.
12/16/2008 The Spokesman Review.com "Met class action suit advances" A class action lawsuit involving more than 6,000 Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. investors is moving toward trial in 15 months.
4/9/2008 The Seattle Times "Metropolitan Mortgage bankruptcy trustee criticizes proposal to sell the insurance affiliate" Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has stuck a $52 million deal to sell the key insurance affiliate of bankrupted Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities.
3/2/2008 The Spokesman Review.com "Met trust and accounting firm settle" The Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. investors' trust has reached a settlement agreement of about $30 million with an accounting firm accused of making mistakes that led to the company's demise.
2/6/2008 The Spokesman Review.com "Met investors will get day in court after all" Burned Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. investors will have their day in court against a big auditing firm they accuse of professional negligence.
1/31/2008 Consolidated and Third Amended Complaint
10/13/2007 The Spokesman Review.com "Turner gets two years in Met case" A federal judge sentenced former Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. executive Thomas Turner to prison for two years, saying that Turner shouldn’t be held solely accountable for the Spokane company’s collapse.
9/17/2007 The Spokesman Review.com "Key Met figures in settlement talks" Key figures in the Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. accounting scandal have reached deals to settle costly lawsuits filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
6/2/2007 The Spokesman Review.com "Former auditor grilled by ex-Met executive's lawyer"
Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.'s former auditor Jack Behrens once told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that he thought just about everyone in the defunct Spokane company was untrustworthy.
5/27/2007 The Spokesman Review.com "Met trial set to begin"
The criminal trial of a leading executive of defunct Spokane financial conglomerate Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. begings Tuesday in Seattle, three years after the company filed for bankruptcy amid an accounting scandal.
6/3/06 The Spokesman Review.com "Sandifur seeks delay of SEC suit"
C. Paul Sandifur Jr. is clearly concerned about possible criminal carges and has asked a federal judge to postpone a separate lawsuit that could force the former chairman and CEO of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. to disclose potentially incriminating evidence.
5/18/06 The Spokesman Review.com "Met creditors closer to payouts"
Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. and its insurance affiliate have resolved part of a bitter dispute that should finally allow the bankrupt firm to release money to thousands of creditors this summer.
5/17/06 The Spokesman Review.com "Met claimants to split insurance pool"
Settlement divides money into four pools, dismisses civil complaints against some former execs. Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. investors would split about $15 million under a settlement announced this week.
12/6/05 The Spokesman Review "Affiliate seeks $220M from Met"
An insurance affiliate of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. has leveled a $220 million claim against the bankrupt firm, an action that threatens to delay and cut the cash recovery of investors throughout the Northwest
12/1/05 Seattle PI Idaho, Arizona regulators approve sale of Met affiliates
Regulators in Idaho and Arizona have approved a plan to sell two insurance affiliates of failed Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. If approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams, creditors could receive a share of as much as $20 million from the sales of Old West Annuity and Life Insurance Co. and Old Standard Life Insurance Co.
The Spokesman-Review.com "Ongoing Coverage: Metropolitant Mortgage Bankruptcy" Background - In January 2004, Metropolitan Mortgage declared bankruptcy, taking down with it the fortunes of many investors who placed their trust in the decades-old Spokane company. Follow developments here.
11/1/05: "SEC charges whistleblower over Met transactions"
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against former Metropolitan Mortgage executives includes allegations against a whistleblower who's now running a real estate development business in Spokane.
10/25/05: The Spokesman-Review.com "Deal would free millions in Met Funds"
A proposed legal settlement involving some of the former board members of a Metropolitan Mortgage affiliate would free millions of dollars to be returned to investors and release the directors from lawsuits and allegations that they took part in a massive financial fraud.
10/3/05 The Spokesman-Review.com "Sandifur's lot"
Less than a dozen miles from the Mexican border, C. Paul Sandifur Jr. is leading a new life.
9/30/05 The Spokesman-Review.com "Ex-Met exec denies misleading auditors"
Central figure in 'rabbit' deal that led to firm's failure pleads not guilty. Thomas Turner, formerly the No. 2 executive at the Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities group, pleaded not guilty Thursday to seven felony counts of milseading auditors.
9/29/05 Seattle PI "Former Metropolitan Mortgage executive pleads not guilty"
"A former top executive of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities, the only person charged criminally in the company's spectacular collapse, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges arising from the bankruptcy filing.
9/27/05 Seattle Times "6 charged in collapse of Met Mortgage:
Federal regulators yesterday filed civil charges against six people for their roles in the collapse of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities of Spokane in early 2004, one of the Northwest's biggest financial scandals.
9/27/05 The Spokesman-Review.com "Ex-Met executives accused of fraud in 'our little Enron' " Top executives of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. were accused of fraud Monday, the first federal charges since the company went bankrupt.
9/27/05 OregonLive.com "Portlanders are indicted in federal fraud case" Investment scheme - The couple also face money laundering charges tied to losses of elderly investors
9/27/05 Seattle Times "6 charged in collapse of Met Mortgage:
Federal regulators yesterday filed civil charges against six people for their roles in the collapse of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities of Spokane in early 2004, one of the Northwest's biggest financial scandals.
9/26/05 The Spokesman-Review.com "Criminal charges filed in Met collapse"
The federal government filed a slew of criminal and civil charges today in the collapse of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities, which cost more than 10,000 investors some $450 million.
9/23/05 The Spokesman-Review.com "Met Mortgage sues former accounting firm"
Current directors of Metropolitan Mortage & Securities Co. have sued their former accounting firm, Price WaterhouseCoopers LLC, alleging that negligent audits performed in 1999 and 2000 failed to warn them that the Spokane company was headed for a financial train wreck.
8/9/05 The Spokesman-Review.com "Brokers names in Met Scandal"
Court rules pair must answer subpoenas as fed push probe. A pair of Portland brokers have been targeted by a federal grand jury and ordered to cooperate in a separate U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud investigation into Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.'s failure 18 months ago.
10/29/04: Puget Sound Business Journal "Fifteen Metropolitan brokers charged" State regulators have charges 15 former Metgropolitan Investment Securities, Inc. brokers with allegedly misleading investors, according to the Department of Financial Institutions.
