Phillips & Paolicelli, LLP and Waters & Kraus, LLP announce that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the following announcement of a proposed class action settlement that would benefit investors in one or more of the Lifetrade Funds:
SUMMARY NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION, SHAREHOLDER DERIVATIVE ACTION, AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT, PRELIMINARY APPROVAL ORDER, SETTLEMENT FAIRNESS HEARING, AND MOTION FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND REIMBURSEMENT OF LITIGATION EXPENSES
TO: ALL PERSONS, INDIVIDUAL, CORPORATE OR IN ANY FORM, (I) WHO INVESTED IN ONE OR MORE OF THE LIFETRADE FUNDS (INCLUDING THE LIFETRADE FUND B.V., LTRADE PLUS LTD. AND LTRADE FIXED CAPITAL (BVI) LTD.), AND/OR (II) THEIR PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST1, PLEASE SEE THE WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY THE CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR, WWW.STRATEGICCLAIMS.NET, FOR A LIST OF COVERED SECURITIES.
PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY, AS YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY A PROPOSED CLASS ACTION AND SHAREHOLDER DERIVATIVE SETTLEMENT PENDING IN THIS COURT.
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and an Order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, (1) that the above-captioned class and shareholder derivative Action has been preliminarily certified as a class action (the “Settlement”) for settlement purposes on behalf of the Settlement Class, except for certain persons and entities who are excluded from the Settlement Class by definition; and (2) that a settlement of the Action for US$4.5 million in cash has been proposed. A hearing will be held telephonically on March 21, 2022, at 11:00 a.m., before the Honorable J. Paul Oetken of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to determine (i) whether the proposed settlement should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable and adequate; (ii) whether the Action should be dismissed with prejudice and the Released Parties should be released from the Settled Claims specified and described in the Equity Trust Stipulation and the Class Claims and Derivative Claims specified and described in the Settlement Stipulation entered into among the Plaintiffs, Class Representatives, the Lifetrade Funds and TMF Curaçao, N.V. (“Equity Trust”); (iii) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation for distribution of the settlement proceeds should be approved as fair and reasonable; (iv) whether Class Counsel’s motion for an award of attorneys’ fees and reimbursement of expenses should be approved; and (v) whether Class Representatives’ application for a compensatory award should be approved. The hearing may be attended by dialing (888) 557-8511, access code 9300838, at the scheduled time.
IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE SETTLEMENT CLASS DESCRIBED ABOVE, YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE PENDING ACTION AND THE SETTLEMENT, AND YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO SHARE IN THE NET SETTLEMENT FUND. YOU ARE A SETTLEMENT CLASS MEMBER AND MUST REQUEST EXCLUSION IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS SETTLEMENT AND IF YOU ARE NOT A NAMED PLAINTIFF IN THE ABOVE-CAPTIONED LITIGATION IN THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. A Notice of Pendency of Class Action, Shareholder Derivative Action and Proposed Settlement, Settlement Hearing and Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Reimbursement of Expenses (“Notice”), which includes the proposed Plan of Allocation, identifies certain Settlement Class eligibility and payment requirements. We encourage you to review the Notice. The Notice and the Settlement Stipulation may be downloaded from the website maintained by the Claims Administrator, www.strategicclaims.net, or by contacting Class Counsel through their websites, www.p2law.com and www.waterskraus.com. You may also obtain the forms and information by contacting the Claims Administrator at:
Lifetrade Litigationc/o Strategic Claims ServicesP.O. Box 230600 N. Jackson St., Ste. 205Media, PA 19063 USAToll-Free: +1 866-274-4004; Fax: +1 610-565-7985www.strategicclaims.net
If you are a member of the Settlement Class, in order to be eligible to share in the distribution of the Net Settlement Fund, you must, as contemplated in the Court’s Order Preliminarily Approving Settlement and Providing for Notice (the “Preliminary Approval Order”), mail a completed Lifetrade Litigation Claim Form and Release postmarked no later than April 4, 2022.
If you are a Settlement Class Member and do not submit a proper Lifetrade Litigation Claim Form and Release, you will not be eligible to share in the distribution of the net proceeds of the Settlement, but you will nevertheless be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Action. If you are a member of the Settlement Class and wish to exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you must submit a request for exclusion so it is received no later than February 14, 2022, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. If you properly exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you will not be bound by the Judgment entered by the Court in the Action and you will not be eligible to share in the proceeds of the Settlement. You should note that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in California Public Employees Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc., 137 S. Ct. 811 (2017), if you exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you may forfeit any claims you may have against Defendant Equity Trust relating to your purchase or acquisition of Lifetrade securities and be entitled to no recovery. If you are a named Plaintiff in the above-captioned litigation, you cannot exclude yourself from the Settlement Class. Before you decide to request exclusion from the Settlement Class, you are urged to consult your counsel, at your own expense, to fully evaluate your rights and the consequences of excluding yourself from the Settlement Class.
If you are a Settlement Class Member, you may enter an appearance through counsel at your own expense. See the Notice for further details. Any objections to the proposed Settlement, the proposed Plan of Allocation, or Class Counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees and reimbursement of expenses, or Class Representatives’ application for a compensatory award, must be filed with the Court and received by Class Counsel and counsel for Equity Trust no later than February 22, 2022, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice.
Class Counsel will apply to the Court for an award of attorneys’ fees from the Settlement Fund in an amount not to exceed one-third of the Settlement Fund. Class Counsel also will apply for the reimbursement of expenses paid or incurred in connection with the prosecution and resolution of the Action, in an amount not to exceed $500,000.00, which includes reimbursement to Class Representatives and Derivative Plaintiffs for their reasonable costs and expenses (including lost wages) directly relating to their representation of the Class. Class Representatives will request a compensatory award to exceed no more than $60,000.00, or $10,000.00 each.
Inquiries other than requests for the Notice, the Claim Form and Release, and/or the Settlement Stipulation may be made to Class Counsel: Phillips & Paolicelli, LLP, Steven Phillips, Esq., 747 Third Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017, +1 (212) 388-5100, or by email at sphillips@p2law.com OR Waters & Kraus, LLP, Charles Siegel, Esq., 3141 Hood Street, Suite 700, Dallas, TX 75219, +1 (214) 357-6244, siegel@waterskraus.com.
Please do not contact the Court or the Clerk’s Office or any Defendant in the Action, or their counsel, regarding this notice. All questions about this notice, the proposed Settlement, or your eligibility to participate in the Settlement should be directed to Class Counsel or the Claims Administrator.
By Order of the Court
1 The Settlement Class excludes Defendants, current or former officers and directors of Lifetrade and Equity Trust, members of their immediate families and their legal representatives, heirs, successors or assigns, any entity in which Lifetrade or Equity Trust have or had a controlling interest. For avoidance of doubt, this exclusion shall not cover “Investment Vehicles,” which for these purposes shall mean any investment company, pooled investment fund or separately managed account (including, but not limited to, mutual fund families, exchange-traded funds, fund of funds, private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, and employee benefit plans) in which any Defendant or any of its affiliates has or may have a direct or indirect interest or as to which any Defendant or any of its affiliates may act as an investment advisor, general partner, managing member or in other similar capacity.
Source: Phillips & Paolicelli
