I’d missed that the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System was the lead plaintiff in the shareholders lawsuit over the collapse of Countrywide Financial. Article doesn’t say how big a bath ATRS took. A judge has ordered officers and directors to answer the complaint about insider trading and other mismanagement. Arkansas Business has order here.

UPDATE: I now have the figures on ATRS’ investment in Countrywide. (I feel their pain. A mutual fund in which I have invested that is managed by a college friend of mine — long a market beater — has turned very sour the last couple of years. One of the fund’s big losers was none other than Countrywide.)

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As of Dec. 31, the System had 759,000 shares of Countrywide. They were worth $6.78 million. The shares had cost ATRS $22.5 million, a decline in value of almost $16 million.

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