I think they will take the information that TDA and Etrade provides them and sue both brokerage firms. In reality, the brokers own the stock (book owners) and the shareholders are 3rd party beneficiaries. Doesn't make sense to go after all the dividend recipients when they can go after the two sources whom allocated the funds to the beneficiaries. But I also agree that they will personally sue the the guys who received hundreds of thousands - million worth in dividend proceeds.. Problem with that though is that most likely the Adam Carter affiliates used fake names and fake entities.