Investors Sue Banks & Mass Mutual

PORTLAND, ORE. (CN) - Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and 25 others - including Charles Schwab, Ameritrade and Washington Mutual Bank - helped crooked investment adviser C. Wesley Rhodes defraud customers of million of dollars for more than a decade, dozens of investors claim in Multnomah County Court.

Plaintiffs say the SEC discovered and reported Rhodes' 11-year fraud in 2006. They say the defendants materially aided Rhodes' long record of chicanery.

Plaintiffs' lead attorney is James Shadduck with Gatti, Gatti & Maier of Salem.

Here are the defendants: MML Investor Services, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Charles Schwab and Co., Bidwell and Co., Ameritrade Northwest, Ameritrade Advisory Services LLC, American Express Financial Advisors, Fidelity Brokerage Services, Private Consulting Group Inc., The Bank of Oswego, Umpqua Bank-Pacific Corp., Umpqua Bank, Wells Fargo Bank Northwest, Washington Mutual Bank, West Coast Bank, Anne Rhodes, KBNP Radio, John Carr, Carr & Schwartz LLC, Carr & Schwartz LLP, David Grau, David P. Grau PC, Businesstransactions.com abn Business Transactions LLC, William Holmes, Holmes and Company LLP, and The Wel Group Inc.

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