The Supreme Court is refusing to hear InfoSpace (NSDQ: INSP) founder Naveen Jain’s appeal, which accuses his former lawyers for an insider stock trading case that resulted in a $247 million judgment against him, AP reports. Jain and his wife Anuradha were suing J.P. Morgan Securities, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Perkins Coie — which all represented Jain and InfoSpace from 1998 to mid-2003 — for being responsible for errors in the company’s IPO, which played a part in the $247 million judgment against Jain. In the end, the Jains settled the lawsuit for $105 million. Lower courts had thrown out the complaints because federal law prohibits lawsuits blaming security companies for risky trades.
If you remember, the Bellevue, Wash.-based company was an online directory that quickly moved into the mobile space, by selling content to mobile phones, including ringtones and graphics. While Jain was CEO, he made outrageous statements that claimed things, like it would be the first company in the world to be worth a trillion dollars. At its height, it was worth $31 billion, or more than Boeing. The company ultimately fired Jain, and its tenuous business practices were laid out in a several part series by The Seattle Times, called “The Dot-con Job.”
Today, InfoSpace is under completely different management. Jain is now CEO of his latest venture, Intelius.com, which sells directory and background information about people. The Bellevue-based company filed for an initial public offering in January 2008. |
