American Depositary Receipt alert. After a Federal Court order and $72.5 mn foreign exchange settlement by leading depositary Bank of New York Mellon (BK) (without admitting wrong-doing), anyone charged forex fees by the bank between the beginning of 1997 and Jan. 17 this year has the right to refunds. BNY hit ADR owners who were charged illegal fees for dividends, rights offerings, sale of shares, other distribution, or interest on capital. This more or less covers anything not denominated in dollars which ADR owners were paid by any foreign company using ADRs for its US shares trading.

A comprehensive list of ADRs which were involved will be posted eventually at the site bnym.adrfxsettlement.com. The claims administration firm KCC (Kurtzman, Carson Consultants) HQ'd down the street from me at 599 Lexingon Avenue, New York NY 10022, is supposed to send postcards to affected ADR owners by the middle of next month. It is not using a website because website claims are often fraudulent.