01-1172, 01-1176 In the Matter of: Mexico Money Transfer Litigation

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“Were the class’s claims worth more than $40 million, plus the cy pres relief, plus the value of the injunction? Like the district court, we think not – indeed, we think that the claims had only nuisance value (including their value in generating bad public relations for the defendants). This settlement is more in the nature of a PR gesture… than an exchange of money (or coupons) for the release of valuable legal rights. No state or federal law requires either currency exchanges or wire-transfer firms to disclose the interbank rate at which they buy specie, as opposed to the retail rate at which they sell currency… That is why the plaintiffs have been driven to make generic fraud claims. But since when is failure to disclose the precise difference between wholesale and retail prices for any commodity ‘fraud’? … Nothing in this settlement smacks of fraud, so the settlement cannot be attacked as too low.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Pallmeyer, J., Easterbrook, J.