Fidelity To Settle Micron Stock Fraud Suit

BOSTON - Fidelity Investments will pay about $10 million to settle a lawsuit against the company and former manager Jeff Vinik that claims he misled individuals into buying Micron Technology stock at the same time the Magellan Fund he managed was selling the stock.

The settlement with plaintiffs, which will have no effect on Fidelity fund shareholders, needs approval from a federal court in Boston, the company said.

Vinik and Fidelity were accused of fraud in a class-action lawsuit filed by people who held stock in Boise-based Micron in 1995.

The plaintiffs charged that Vinik and Fidelity were touting Micron's shares while they were unloading them from the Magellan Fund.

The Boston-based company said that in agreeing to settle the suit it isn't "acknowledging liability of any sort."

Fidelity reached a settlement because "we want to spend our time and resources enhancing fund performance, instead of spending thousands of hours and millions of dollars in tedious legal proceedings," said Robert Pozen, who heads Fidelity's investment management group.

Vinik, who runs a money management firm, said he's pleased the suit is settled.

"We are all better served focusing on the present and the future," Vinik said.

The plaintiffs' attorney, Glen DeValerio, wasn't available for comment.

The Boston federal court ruled in April that only investors who bought Micron shares between Nov. 9, 1995 and Nov. 30, 1995, are eligible to be included in the suit. In the original complaint, the plaintiffs were requesting that investors who bought Micron shares between Oct. 4, 1995, and Nov. 30, 1995, be eligible to be part of the class action.