Securities Fraud Action Against AmTrust, Officers and Directors Dismissed

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has dismissed a securities fraud class action accusing AmTrust Financial Services and certain of its officers and directors of manipulating loss reserves, ruling that the lead plaintiff failed to sufficiently allege actionable misstatements or omissions necessary to state claims pursuant to §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act and § 11 of the Securities Act.

In a Sept. 29 order, Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said the plaintiff’s claim that AmTrust misclassified losses paid by its foreign reinsurer subsidiaries is “sheer …