Re: 6/8/00 - Hemispherx: Federal Court Rules on Short Sellers' Jurisdiction Motion
Thursday June 8, 9:45 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.
Hemispherx: Federal Court Rules on Short Sellers' Jurisdiction Motion
PHILADELPHIA, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (Amex: HEB; HEBws) today said that a federal court ruled that it does not have jurisdiction in the defamation case that the Company brought against certain short sellers. The federal court did not make any ruling concerning merits of the case and the Company has the option to pursue its charges in state courts.
In the motion that the United States District Court allowed yesterday, the short sellers claimed that the federal court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the truth or falsity of statements that the short sellers made about the Company. The short sellers also argued that the federal court is without jurisdiction to adjudicate the claims that the short sellers themselves asserted against the Company in the case.
``The only effect of the granting of the short sellers motion is to delay adjudication of the merits of the parties' various claims,'' explained Michael Arthur Walsh, one of the Company's lawyers, ``But this settles nothing.''
``Apparently, the short sellers are not eager to try the truth of their statements about the Company in an open, public forum where their accusations must be supported by factual evidence,'' said Dr. William A. Carter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hemispherx. ``I would have thought that anyone who actually believed the various things that the short sellers published about the Company would have been anxious to allow the case to proceed as quickly as possible. Their motion to push the case to a different jurisdiction is clearly a delaying tactic. It speaks clearly about the merit of their case.''
Hemispherx said that its pursuit of the dismissed case had not been deterred by the actions of the short sellers which included allegedly dissolving their hedge fund Asensio Capital Management, destroying massive amounts of evidence including essentially all trading records required to be kept by NASD, and returning the money under management to investors. Hemispherx is reporting to the Justice Department certain information regarding the nature of the funding of the dissolved Asensio Capital Management and the web of other entities that the Company claims were involved in illegal short selling.
Information contained in this news release other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve risks of competition, changing market conditions, changes in laws and regulations affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.
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