American Business Financial Services, Inc.'s ("ABFI" or the Company) principal business is to originate, sell and service home equity and purchase money mortgage loans secured by residences.

The Complaint alleges that Defendants ABFI violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Defendants failed to disclose and indicate (1) the Company used a deception to take homes from delinquent borrowers in order keep its delinquency rate low; (2) that the deception allowed the Company to skip the normal foreclosure process more frequently; (3) that the deception helped the Company to reduce its delinquency rate in its $3.6 billion loan portfolio; (4) as result of reducing its delinquency rate in its $3.6 billion loan portfolio, the Company was able to securitize more loans; and (5) were thus able to collect interest income from its securitized loans and inflate its financial results.

Further, a press release said, on June 13, 2003, the Company disclosed that it had received a civil subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that ABFI provide documents relating to mortgage loan transactions and securitization agreements. On news of this, shares of ABFI fell 20% to close at $8.27 per share. On June 26, 2003, ABFI disclosed that it anticipated incurring a loss for the quarter and year ended June 30, 2003 due to its inability to complete its quarterly securitization of loans. On news of this, shares of ABFI fell 12% to close at $7.40 per share.

According to a press release dated June 9, 2005, in a ruling that strictly enforces the "particularity" requirements of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, a federal judge has dismissed a class action suit against top executives at ABFI after finding that the Plaintiffs lacked detailed evidence to back up their claim that false and misleading statements were made to investors. In the suit, investors allege that ABFI - a now-bankrupt financial services company that specialized in home equity loans - used improper accounting practices to hide its high rate of delinquent loans.