In brief: Judge dismisses Boeing fraud suit

Seattle – A federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a securities fraud lawsuit against Boeing by a pension fund that claimed the company and its executives intentionally deceived investors in 2009 about the 787 Dreamliner’s testing and scheduled first flight.

Judge Suzanne Conlon ruled that the City of Livonia Employees’ Retirement System failed to lay out the detailed and credible claims required by federal law in such securities suits.

Boeing issued a series of optimistic bulletins leading up to the Paris Air Show in mid-June, and Commercial Airplanes CEO Scott Carson said June 16 that the plane “definitely will fly this month,” the ruling recounts.

But five days after the air show, Boeing shocked investors by saying the plane’s first flight would be postponed for an unknown time. Boeing shares fell 12 percent over the next two days.

Conlon granted Boeing’s motion to dismiss the case, ruling that the suit didn’t provide necessary details to support its claims that material facts were deliberately concealed from investors, and it didn’t state precisely which company officials are alleged to have been responsible.

Seattle Times

Costco spearheads liquor initiative

Seattle – Costco Wholesale stores in Washington will begin collecting signatures next week to put an initiative on the ballot in November that would take the state out of the liquor business.

Initiative 1100 would allow businesses in good standing that currently sell beer and wine to sell liquor also, and it would eliminate price controls and allow volume discounts.

The push comes more than two years after Issaquah-based Costco, the country’s third-largest retailer, lost most aspects of a court battle to change the state’s beer- and wine-distribution rules.

Several legislative efforts aimed at overhauling the system failed to make headway.

Seattle Times

Citigroup shares sold at profit

Washington – The Treasury Department said Wednesday it raised $6.2 billion from the sale of 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup stock it received as part of the government’s rescue of the bank.

The sales took place over the past month and represented 19.5 percent of the government’s holdings of Citigroup common stock.

The stock sold for an average price per share of around $4.33, Treasury said, which would represent a profit from the $3.25 price Treasury paid to obtain the shares.

Citi, one of the hardest-hit banks during the financial crisis, received $45 billion in bailout money. That was one of the largest rescues by the government. Of the $45 billion, $25 billion was converted to a government ownership stake in Citi last summer. The bank repaid the other $20 billion in December.

Treasury said it has triggered a second round of stock sales through its agent, Morgan Stanley. That will involve an additional 1.5 billion shares.

Associated Press