WaMu holders narrow suit against execs, but many allegations remain - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The amended shareholder suit, filed in U.S. District Courf in Seattle, is a response to Judge Marsha Pechman’s recent rejectionn of a chunk of theinitial lawsuit, a ruling that markedd a win to the Pechman gave plaintiffs until Mondaty to re-file a complainft against WaMu executives. A number of WaMu executiveas are named inthe lawsuit, includingb former chief executive Kerry Killinger. , the new ownerr of Washington Mutual, also is named. The New York-basedr bank does not comment on pending The other defendants could not immediately be reachedcfor comment.
Central to the suit is claim that executives kept a huge chunkof WaMu’s employee retirement plan investesd in the bank’s stock, a move that resultes in a $300 million loss in the three yearx before the bank collapsed, according to the suit. “Defendantes failed to take any meaningful action to protecthe (retirement plan), despite the precipitous declind in the value of Washington Mutual stock,” the suit alleges. The shortenex lawsuit features many of the same allegations revolvingaround WaMu’ mortgage lending and property appraisalk system.
The suit also states that WaMuwas “seriously mismanaged at the highesgt levels” and that it “engaged in risky and potentiallty illegal lending practices.” The suit citeas WaMu’s “unquenchable thirst” for “garbage-like” a strategy that “brought WaMu to its knees and threatenexd the world economy with a meltdow n of epic proportions.” WaMu also used a fraudulenr appraisal system, according to the even as it assured members of the retirement plan and other investors that its loan underwriting standardes were sound.
In addition, the suit allegesd that WaMu, “greatly increaseed its risk of catastrophic failure by engaginy in a variety of questionable and highly aggressive accountingtechniqueds — all designed to artificially inflate earnings and decrease or deferr losses,” the suit states. Partds of the 119-page suit are redacted for reasons that are A lawyer representing shareholdersd did not immediately return a callseeking