NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Two years after Wall Street's giants agreed to set aside millions for investors who bought stocks based on tainted research, a distribution plan has been proposed.

The plan, which requires court approval, for the first time provides a framework for compensating the many investors who suffered steep losses when stocks that analysts were publicly hyping but privately deriding crumbled in 2000 and 2001.

Since 2003, 12 Wall Street firms have agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle government charges. Of that, $433 million was set aside for investors. The money has been idling in interest-bearing accounts as court officials have wrestled with how much money to give to investors who took the bum advice and got burned.

The task fell to court-appointed administrator Francis McGovern, a Duke University law professor.

"The process of designing a distribution plan in connection with the global research analyst settlement has been extremely complex and sensitive," McGovern said late Monday. His plan, he said, aims to treat investors fairly given the practical limits.

The plan is based on some key principles.

Investors had to have bought one of more than 50 stocks through one of the participating Wall Street firms and during a specified period of time. They also had to lose money.

They don't, however, have to show whether they bought the stock based on the biased research.

For instance, an investor who bought AT&T stock through Citigroup between late November 1999 and late January 2000 could have a claim. The same goes for investors who purchased Global Crossing shares through Goldman Sachs from late March to mid-June of 2000. Anyone who purchased Inktomi stock from Morgan Stanley during a one-month period in late 2000 may also recoup some losses.

Here's what wouldn't work under the plan: investors who lost money on, say, Cisco Systems or any stock not specified (for a complete list of eligible stocks and time frames, click here or go to www.globalresearchanalystsettlement.com). Also, investors who bought AT&T or some other approved stock through a discount broker could not recover money.

Investors who lost less than $100 on any given stock covered in the settlement are out of luck.

But small investors will be given proportionately bigger payouts than large investors. According to McGovern's plan, large buyers of a given stock are likely to have more research at their disposal -- and, by implication, are less likely to be duped -- than smaller investors.

Another core principle: investors who bought a company stock earlier in the scam stand to pocket more than those who bought the same stock later. The logic here is that early investors were more likely to suffer losses than later ones.

McGovern said it's not known yet how many investors are due checks -- or how much on average they can expect to receive -- but he estimates there are as many as 100,000 eligible accounts, some of which could have multiple investors.

Nor is it clear yet how investors and shareholder rights activists will react to McGovern's proposal. They have until March 8 to submit comments to the court. The earliest McGovern's plan will be approved is April 11, when U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley III has scheduled a court hearing to address the plan and any concerns.

Once approved, McGovern has nine months to cut $433 million worth of checks. McGovern said he hopes to contact eligible investors who have been identified through Wall Street's records by June 3, but that date could be delayed. If not, anyone who has not been contacted but who thinks he or she is owed money would have until July 8 to notify McGovern.

Those investors would have to provide record of their stock purchase and loss in writing.