Burp; Hagens Berman Files Class Action Suit Against Upgrade International, Inc.For Violations of the Federal Securities Laws
SEATTLE, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- A class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of all purchases of Upgrade International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: UPGD) ("Upgrade") common stock during the period November 29, 1999 through February 24, 2000 (the "Class Period").
The complaint charges Upgrade with violations of the federal securities laws. Specifically, plaintiffs have brought claims under sections 10(b) and 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Specifically, the complaint alleges that Upgrade's positive statements concerning Upgrade's licensure of the Keepered Media technology from Ampex, the abilities of Upgrade's UltraCard, Upgrade's listing status with Nasdaq, and Upgrade's reporting status with the SEC were materially false and misleading because, at the time Upgrade issued them, and that defendants knew, or were reckless in not knowing, the following adverse information:
a. That the Keepered Media technology had never been proven to work on a
credit card type format;
b. That Ampex, the owner of Keepered Media technology, had
discontinued its use as it was too costly for commercial
manufacturing and did not believe the technology had any material
value;
c. That the value of Keepered Media technology was so insignificant, its
value was not even recorded as an asset on Ampex's financial
statements;
d. That Upgrade had not applied for Nasdaq National Market System
listing;
e. That the UltraCard had not been proven to store 20,000 times the
storage capacity of magnetic strip cards;
f. That Keepered Media technology had only proven to work on hard drive
disks and was financially unfeasible to produce;
g. That despite its license of Keepered Media technology, Upgrade would
not have a product to sell, lease or license until the year 2001; and
h. That there was no reasonable basis for claiming that Upgrade would be
an SEC reporting company by February 24, 2000, as its auditors had
not even completed Upgrade's audit.
By issuing these allegedly false and misleading statements, defendants artificially inflated Upgrade's stock price from $10-1/2 on 11/29/99 to a Class Period high of $82-1/2 in January 2000, resulting in market capitalization of well over $1 billion, before the true facts about Upgrade's troubled operations and false statements concerning Upgrade's product development efforts were revealed.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Upgrade common stock during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Hagens Berman, LLP which has concentrated its practice in the field of class action and multi-plaintiff litigation, representing plaintiffs in numerous securities and investment fraud actions throughout the country. Hagens Berman, LLP has been appointed lead or co-lead counsel on behalf of defrauded investors in numerous complex financial cases, and has been responsible for many large recoveries which, in the aggregate, total more than $1 Billion.
If you are a member of the Class described above, you may, no later than 60 days from today, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the Class, if you so choose. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiffs' counsel, Steve W. Berman or Karl P. Barth at Hagens Berman, P.S. at 206-623-7292 or toll-free at 888-381-2889 or via e-mail at Karl@Hagens-Berman.com.
SOURCE Hagens Berman. P.S.
CO: Hagens Berman. P.S.; Upgrade International, Inc.; Ampex
ST: Washington
IN: CPR
SU: LAW
02/25/2000 15:23 EST prnewswire.com
|
