Current or Previous Morgan Stanley Customer? You may be Owed Compensation

• Author: Michael Bordonada
• Posted: 2023-12-11

Recently, MorganStanley was found to be at fault in a major class action lawsuit. We'll look at the bank, who is eligible, what happened, and how to claim your benefits if you're one of the customers who is an inherent member of that class.

MorganStanley's Major Data Breaches

This class action lawsuit centers around a claim made that MorganStanley had two data breaches. The bank provides both regular banking services and wealth management services. Customers of both tiers of services were affected by the data breaches.

The first breach occurred in 2016, and the second one happened in 2019. Both of these breaches occurred because MorganStanley apparently failed to safekeep consumer data. Criminals gained access to internal banking records. They also gained access to customer data, which included very sensitive information about each consumer such as their SSNs.

Aggravating Factors in the Data Breaches

As we discussed, these data breaches occurred in 2016 and 2019. At this time, MorganStanley has not actually admitted to any wrongdoing that led to these data breaches. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty to get customers suing plenty angry.

While the breaches happened in 2016 and 2019, MorganStanley didn't actually tell the public that the 2016 breach occurred until 2020 and that the 2019 breach occurred until 2021. To be clear, MorganStanley allegedly had knowledge of these breaches for years. However, customers whose data was compromised were only notified in July of 2020 and June 2021 about these two breaches, respectively.

The lawsuit also states that the plaintiffs figured out that the bank still has IT assets floating around completely unencrypted. If this is true, then this data can be easily stolen by cybercriminals, especially if the IT media is improperly disposed of, as the plaintiffs allege is what happened the first two times.

Who Is Eligible for This Lawsuit?

First, it's important to keep in mind that the lawsuit itself won't be finalized until June 8, 2022. However, there have been some defining factors that make it particularly likely that it will pass through as it's been ruled.

In order to be eligible for this MorganStanley class action suit, you must be a member of the class. That means that you must have received a notice from the company in or around July of 2020 or June of 2021 telling you that your data has been breached from the company.

If you were a MorganStanley customer after these occurred, or your data simply wasn't in the breach, then you are not eligible to join the class. If you were a customer at the times of the breaches but never got a notice, you could be eligible. You should still, in that event, file your form with the law firm handling the class action suit.

What Do Members of This Class Get?

MorganStanley has already paid a penalty totaling $60,000,000 to the Office of the Comptroller of Currency. However, this civil suit orders a separate payment that totals $60,000,000 to resolve the suit. Members who were affected by this suit will get a variety of benefits, provided that they fill out their claim forms to get official, legal representation.

First, class action members will get two years of Aura Financial Shield. This protects them from fraud and other issues stemming from having cybercriminals leak their information. You can claim this benefit using a code on the mailer you received at the link here.

Second, and more enticingly, affected people may claim up to $10,000 in reimbursement for fees that relate to this data breach. For example, some people may elect to collect on their expensive attorneys' fees related to recouping lost money. Everyone can also collect on a benefit up to $100 that is part of this to reimburse them for their time related to the matter, at $25 per hour for up to four hours. Any outstanding charges that are fraudulent may be reimbursed using this fund, as well.

Third, the bank is hiring a third party to look at assets sold to third parties to examine them for potentially sensitive data. This portion of injunctive relief is to quash the potential for future data thefts that could cost consumers even more millions.