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Article: Credit rating agencies lose free-speech claim.(Main Business)
- Article from:
- Manila Bulletin
- Article date:
- September 5, 2009
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NEW YORK, September 5 (Reuters) – Credit rating agencies may find it harder to argue that their opinions deserve free speech protection after a judge rejected efforts by Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's to dismiss a fraud lawsuit.In a case alleging that inflated ratings on risky mortgages led to investment losses, US District Judge Shira Scheindlin said on Wednesday that ratings on notes sold privately to a group of investors were not ''matters of public concern'' deserving broad protection under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.The Manhattan judge said investors may pursue their lawsuit accusing Moody's, S&P and Morgan Stanley, which ...