Investors who bought Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) common stock between February 5, 2019 and February 5, 2020 may qualify to claim a share of the $175 million SEC Fair Fund, based on their recognized loss. Claims close December 13, 2026, and brokerage records for every reported transaction are required.
Current Status
Claims are open. The Claims Bar Date is December 13, 2026: online claims must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST that day, a Claim Form sent by First Class Mail must be postmarked by that date, and a form sent any other way must be received by the Fund Administrator by that date. There is no court approval step still to come — the Commission approved the Plan of Distribution on July 16, 2026, and the Fund Administrator is now collecting claims under it. No payment date had been announced as of September 30, 2026.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
The claim window is the last stage of an enforcement action that ended nearly two years ago. The Commission issued its order against Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) on December 16, 2024, appointed JND Legal Administration as Fund Administrator on February 17, 2026, published the proposed Plan of Distribution for comment on April 24, 2026, and approved the final Plan on July 16, 2026. The Plan Notice and Claim Form have since gone out, and the December 13, 2026 Claims Bar Date is the first hard deadline for investors.The underlying matter is In the Matter of Becton, Dickinson and Company, Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-22361. In its order, the Commission found that BD made repeated misrepresentations to investors from 2016 to early 2020 about the risks it was taking in continuing to sell its Alaris infusion pump. On a February 6, 2020 earnings call, BD revised its full-year financial guidance, said the Alaris pump needed a new FDA 510(k) clearance, and said it would stop selling the device until that clearance was granted. The order states that BD shares fell about 12 percent that day.
The Commission found that BD violated Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 along with Rules 13a-1, 13a-11, 13a-13 and 13a-15. It ordered BD to pay a $175,000,000 civil money penalty and set up this Fair Fund under Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act so the penalty could be distributed to harmed investors. BD consented to the order without admitting or denying the Commission's findings, and the matter was resolved on a cease-and-desist basis rather than through a court judgment.
Who Qualifies?
The Fair Fund covers investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Becton, Dickinson and Company common stock, trading under the symbol BDX, from February 5, 2019 through February 5, 2020, inclusive, and suffered a loss as calculated under the Plan.Buying inside that window is the starting point, not the whole test. The Fund Administrator decides eligibility: your approved transactions must produce a Recognized Loss under the Plan of Allocation (Exhibit A to the Plan), and your calculated payment must reach the $20.00 Minimum Distribution Amount. Receiving the Plan Notice in the mail does not by itself mean you are eligible, and not receiving one does not mean you are excluded.
A set of Excluded Parties cannot take part at all: BD; its present and former officers and directors, along with their assigns, creditors, heirs, distributees, spouses, parents, dependent children and controlled entities; employees or former employees of BD or its affiliates terminated for cause or who resigned in connection with the conduct described in the order; anyone criminally charged, as of the Claims Bar Date, in connection with that conduct or a related Commission action; entities BD controls or controlled; the Fund Administrator and those assisting it; and anyone who bought another person's right to recover from the fund. A right received by gift, inheritance or devise does not trigger that last exclusion.
How Much Can You Get?
No per-share or per-claimant estimate has been published. The fund starts at a fixed $175,000,000 plus accrued interest, and what is actually distributed — the Net Available Fair Fund — is what remains after the fees, expenses and other deductions the Plan specifies. Each claimant's share depends on their own Recognized Loss and on the total Recognized Losses of every eligible claimant, so no individual amount can be priced until all claims are processed.The Plan sets out two outcomes. If the Net Available Fair Fund equals or exceeds the combined Recognized Losses of all eligible claimants, each eligible claimant is paid their Recognized Loss plus any Reasonable Interest awarded. If it falls short, each claimant receives a pro rata share of the fund in proportion to their Recognized Loss. Either way, a payment that calculates below $20.00 is not made, and that money goes to the other eligible claimants instead.
Payments are also subject to an Offset for Prior Recovery. The Plan says its allocation method is substantially similar to the court-approved methodology developed for a related private securities class action over the same Alaris disclosures, and investors who were paid in that case should read how the Plan's offset provision treats that recovery. The full methodology is in the Plan of Allocation on the Becton Fair Fund website.
What Proof Is Required?
Documentation is required. Every transaction and holding you report on the Claim Form must be supported by records such as broker confirmation slips, brokerage account statements, or an authorized statement from your broker reporting your transactions. If you no longer have them, request copies from your broker. Send copies, not originals, since submitted documents are not returned, and do not use a highlighter on the form or on any supporting document.The Schedule of Transactions asks for more than your qualifying purchases. It asks for your BDX holdings at the opening of trading on February 5, 2019; every purchase, acquisition and sale — including free receipts and free deliveries — from February 5, 2019 through May 5, 2020; and your holdings at the close of trading on May 5, 2020. Report all of it, whether a trade made or lost money. The Claim Form warns that leaving out transaction or holding information can lead to rejection.
File one Claim Form per legal entity: separate forms for an individual account, a joint account, an IRA or an account held for a minor, but a single form covering every account one person or one corporation holds in the same name. Joint owners must each sign. The beneficial owner signs, not the brokerage firm that held the shares in its name, and anyone signing for someone else — an executor, trustee or guardian, for example — must state that capacity and include proof of authority.
What Is the Deadline?
The Claims Bar Date is December 13, 2026, and the method you use decides what that means:- Online through the Fair Fund website: submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST on December 13, 2026.
- First Class Mail: postmarked by December 13, 2026.
- Any other delivery method: received by the Fund Administrator by December 13, 2026.
December 13, 2026 falls on a Sunday, which matters for anyone mailing a paper form; filing online avoids the question. A Fair Fund has no opt-out or objection deadline, because it has neither mechanism. A claimant who misses the bar date may be barred from receiving any payment from the Becton Fair Fund.
How Do You Take Action?
File through the official Becton Fair Fund website. Its File a Claim page offers three routes: an Individual Claim Portal for a person or entity filing for a single account, an Institutional Claims Filing Portal for institutions and claim preparers filing for many accounts or large transaction volumes, and a downloadable Claim Form for filing by mail. The site's Important Documents page carries the Plan Notice and the Commission-approved Plan of Distribution, which are also posted on the SEC's distributions page for this matter.Third-party filers must use the Fund Administrator's required electronic file layout, available through the Fair Fund website, and must submit proof of authority for managed accounts. Under the Plan, payments are made to the investor; a third-party filer cannot be the payee, and its fee cannot be taken out of the Distribution Payment.
Brokers, banks and other nominees who bought BDX during the Relevant Period for a beneficial owner have their own obligation: within 14 calendar days of receiving the Plan Notice, they must either send a Claim Form to those beneficial owners or give the Fund Administrator the owners' last known names and addresses.
What Happens Next?
After the bar date, the process runs on the Plan's schedule rather than a court calendar. The Fund Administrator reviews every claim, and a claimant whose Claim Form is deficient or ineligible may receive a Claim Status Notice explaining why and describing the chance to cure. Distributions are made only after all timely claims have been processed and every rejected or partly rejected claimant has been notified and given that opportunity. The Fund Administrator has said processing will take a significant amount of time, and no distribution date has been announced.Check the Fair Fund website for updates, and notify the Fund Administrator in writing if your address or name changes before payments go out.
Sources and Verification
This page is based on the official Becton Fair Fund website, its FAQ and File a Claim pages, the Plan Notice and the Claim Form issued in In the Matter of Becton, Dickinson and Company, Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-22361, and the Commission's distributions page for the matter.- Official Fair Fund website — Becton Fair Fund (claim portals, FAQ, Plan of Distribution, Claim Form)
- Plan Notice and Claim Form for the Becton Fair Fund, Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-22361 (embedded below)
- SEC — Distributions to Harmed Investors: Becton, Dickinson and Company
- Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist Proceedings, Securities Act Release No. 33-11344 (December 16, 2024); Fund Administrator appointed by Exchange Act Release No. 34-104853 (February 17, 2026); Plan of Distribution approved by Exchange Act Release No. 34-105932 (July 16, 2026)
For related coverage, see OCA's page on the earlier Elanco Animal Health SEC Fair Fund, the tracker of open securities class action settlements, or the explainer on how settlement funds get divided.
Questions
Is the Becton Fair Fund the same thing as a class action settlement?
No. A Fair Fund is money the SEC collected as a civil penalty and is paying out to harmed investors under Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. There is no plaintiffs' class, no class counsel, no opt-out right, no objection process and no court fairness hearing. The Commission approved the Plan of Distribution on July 16, 2026, and the Commission-appointed Fund Administrator, JND Legal Administration, decides eligibility and calculates payments under that Plan. The practical step is the same as in a class action: file a claim with supporting documentation by the deadline.
Why does the Relevant Period end on February 5, 2020?
February 5, 2020 is the last day before BD's February 6, 2020 earnings call. On that call BD revised its full-year financial guidance, said the Alaris infusion pump needed a new FDA 510(k) clearance, and said it would stop selling the pump until that clearance was granted. According to the SEC's order, BD shares fell about 12 percent that day. Shares bought after the announcement were bought at a price that already reflected the news, which is why purchases after February 5, 2020 do not qualify.
Why does the claim form ask for BDX trades through May 5, 2020?
Only purchases made from February 5, 2019 through February 5, 2020 can qualify, but the Schedule of Transactions asks for every purchase and sale from February 5, 2019 through May 5, 2020, plus your holdings at the opening of trading on February 5, 2019 and at the close of trading on May 5, 2020. The Fund Administrator uses the complete trading record to calculate each claimant's Recognized Loss under the Plan of Allocation. Leaving out transactions or holdings from that window can get a claim rejected, so report them even if they were profitable.
I already received money from the BD securities class action. Can I still file?
Receiving money from a related class action is not on the Plan's list of Excluded Parties, so an otherwise eligible investor may file. The Plan says its allocation method is substantially similar to the court-approved methodology developed for the related class action, and every Distribution Payment is subject to an Offset for Prior Recovery as the Plan defines it. Read that provision in the Plan of Distribution on the Fair Fund website before assuming what your payment will be.
How do I know my Becton Fair Fund claim was received?
It depends on how you filed. A claim filed through the online Individual Claim Portal shows a claim number on the confirmation page after you select Submit; that number is your acknowledgement, so keep it. A claim mailed in or filed through the Institutional Claims Filing Portal is acknowledged by email or postcard within 60 days of the postmark date, and the Fund Administrator says the claim is not deemed submitted until that acknowledgement arrives. If nothing arrives within 60 days, contact the Fund Administrator through the official Fair Fund website.
Who is excluded from the Becton Fair Fund?
The Plan's Excluded Parties are BD itself; present and former BD officers and directors and their assigns, creditors, heirs, distributees, spouses, parents, dependent children and controlled entities; employees or former employees of BD or its affiliates terminated for cause or who resigned in connection with the conduct described in the Order; anyone criminally charged, as of the Claims Bar Date, in connection with that conduct or a related Commission action; any entity in which BD has or had a controlling interest; the Fund Administrator and those assisting it; and anyone who bought another person's right to recover from the Fair Fund for value. Someone who received that right by gift, inheritance or devise is not excluded on that basis.
