as you interested in lawsuits, here's another with a twist. i would guess the lawyers will win something from the brokers on this and it might get a few pennies back for someone who bought one of these IPOs.
IPO Manipulation Case Commenced Against Major Wall Street Underwriters, Autoweb.com, Inc., Avici Systems, Inc., B2B Internet Holdrs, Calico Commerce, Inc., And Others
NEW YORK, NY, Jun 06, 2001 (INTERNET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Wolf Haldenstein Adler
Freeman & Herz LLP announces that it filed a class action lawsuit in the United
States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all
purchasers of certain IPO securities since March 1997 (the "Class Period")
against Wall Street's largest underwriters for conspiring to defraud investors.
The Underwriter Defendants include: Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., The
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Lehman Brothers, Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner
& Smith, Inc., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., BancBoston Robertson, Stephens,
Inc., and Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. The lawsuit alleges claims under the
federal anti-trust laws and the federal securities laws. Corporate issuers of
IPO securities are also named defendants, as described below.
The case is entitled Shives v. Bank of America Securities LLC, 01 Civ. 4596
(SAS) and is pending before Judge Shira Scheindlin. The complaint is detailed
and is in excess of 200 pages. A copy can be read at the Courthouse, 40 Centre
Street, New York, New York, or by accessing the Wolf Haldentein web-site at
www.whafh.com, or by requesting a copy from Wolf Haldenstein.
The allegations of this class action first surfaced in the press. Recent
articles have appeared in Barron's, Fortune, The New York Times and The Wall
Street Journal about investigations being conducted by the United States Justice
Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission into the manipulation of
stock prices underwritten by the Wall Street Underwriter Defendants. The
complaint alleges that defendants violated the anti-trust laws and the federal
securities laws by conspiring and agreeing to raise and increase the
compensation received by the Underwriter Defendants by requiring those who
received allocation of IPO stock to agree to purchase shares of manipulated
securities in the aftermarket of the IPO at escalating price levels designed to
inflate the price of the manipulated stock, thus artificially creating an
appearance of demand and high prices for that stock, and IPO stock in general,
leading to further stock offerings. The complaint also claims that the
conspirators arranged for the Underwriter Defendants to receive undisclosed and
excessive brokerage commissions.
As a consequence, the Underwriter Defendants successfully increased investor
interest in the manipulated IPO securities and increased the Underwriter
Defendants' individual and collective underwritings, compensation and revenues.
The complaint further alleges that defendants violated the federal securities
laws by issuing and selling securities pursuant to the IPO's without disclosing
to investors that the Underwriter Defendants in the offering, including the lead
underwriters, had solicited and received excessive and undisclosed commissions
from certain investors.
The complaint alleges that the practices described and the agreement to engage
in the unlawful laddering of stock, was intended to (and did) drive the share
price up to artificially high levels. This artificial price inflation enabled
both the Underwriter Defendants and their customers to reap enormous profits by
buying stock at the IPO price and then selling it later for a profit at
inflated, aftermarket prices.
Among the stocks alleged to have been manipulated were the shares of the
companies listed below during the time period listed:
Ariba, Inc. 6/23/99 - 12/6/00
Autoweb.com, Inc. [AWEB] 3/23/99 - 12/6/00
Avici Systems, Inc. [AVCI] 7/28/00 - 4/20/01
B2B Internet Holdrs [BHH] 6/23/99 - 4/19/01
Calico Commerce, Inc. [CLIC] 10/6/99 - 3/23/01
Corvis Corporation 7/27/00 - 5/17/01
Digimarc Corporation 12/01/99 - 3/12/01
DoubleClick, Inc. 2/20/98 - 5/2/01
Internet Capital Group, Inc. 8/4/99 - 5/9/01
InterTrust Technologies Corp. 10/26/99 - 5/16/01
Liberate Technologies, Inc. 7/28/99 - 12/26/00
Marimba, Inc. 4/30/99 - 4/2/01
MarketWatch.com, Inc. 1/14/99 - 4/21/99
MP3.com, Inc. 7/21/99 - 5/16/01
Multex.com, Inc. 3/17/99 - 12/4/00
NetZero, Inc. 9/23/99 - 4/18/01
OPUS360 Corp. 4/7/00 - 3/27/01
Organic, Inc. 2/9/00 - 12/6/00
PartsBase.com, Inc. 3/22/00 - 3/29/01
PlanetRx.com, Inc. 10/6/99 - 3/23/01
Priceline.com, Inc. 3/29/99 - 3/14/01
Rediff.com India Ltd. 6/14/00 - 4/4/01
Red Hat, Inc. 8/11/99 - 3/19/01
Stamps.com, Inc. 6/24/99 - 5/16/01
VA Linux Systems, Inc. 12/9/99 - 12/6/00
The class alleged consists of all persons who purchased in the after market of
IPOs any securities underwritten by the Wall Street Underwriter Defendants since
March 1997 through June 5, 2001. Subclasses are alleged with respect to specific
offering of securities. Excluded from the class are defendants, their officers,
director, and others, as defined in the complaint. If you are a member of the
class, you may request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff in this
action by August 6, 2001. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts
on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be
appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim
is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will
adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class
members may together serve as "lead plaintiff.'' Your ability to share in any
recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a
lead plaintiff. You may retain counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel
in this action.
Wolf Haldenstein has extensive experience in the prosecution of securities class
actions and derivative litigation in state and federal trial and appellate
courts across the country. The firm has approximately 60 attorneys in various
practice areas; and offices in Chicago, New Jersey, New York City, San Diego,
and West Palm Beach. The reputation and expertise of this firm in shareholder
and other class litigation has been repeatedly recognized by the courts, which
have appointed it to major positions in complex securities multi-district and
consolidated litigation.
Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP at 270 Madison Avenue, New York, New
York 10016. Telephone: (800) 575-0735 (Fred Taylor Isquith, Esq., Gustavo
Bruckner, Esq., Michael Miske, or George Peters) via e-mail at
classmember@whafh.com or visit our website at www.whafh.com. |
