As stated in this press release last week by the SEC, the disbursement of $750 million to Bristol-Myers Squibb shareholders began on Thursday, June 8. This $750 million includes (1) $150 million BMS paid to settle the SEC's case against it, (2) $300 million BMS paid to settle a related securities class action, and (3) $300 million BMS paid in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey to address the company's criminal liability. The combined $750 million in funds from the SEC case, civil action and criminal case is being distributed all at once to shareholders who filed a claim last year with the claims administrator--The Garden City Group--in the BMS securities class action settlement.

As a result, we have what I believe to be the first claims filing "trifecta"--civil, SEC and criminal settlement money all rolled into one giant distribution. Shareholders who filed a timely proof of claim in the BMS securities class action settlement will actually receive a share of $750 million, not just the $300 million from the civil settlement. Conversely, shareholders who fail to file a claim in the BMS civil settlement miss out on the money from that settlement, as well as the additional $450 million from the SEC and criminal settlements.

The moral of the story, as usual: File those claims.