BATON ROUGE, La., July 31, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- A shareholder sued HPL Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:HPLA), claiming the software company and certain of its top officers pumped up HPL's stock price by artificially inflating revenue, LeBlanc & Waddell said.
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and assigned the case number C-02-3665-MJJ. It seeks damages for violations of federal securities laws on behalf of all investors who bought HPL common stock from July 31, 2001 through July 18, 2002 (the Class Period).
According to the lawsuit, HPL issued a series of false and misleading financial statements to the public during the Class Period, which led investors to believe that the San Jose-based company had generated millions of dollars more revenue than it actually had.
HPL's accounting woes began to surface on July 19, 2002 when it announced that its audit committee was investigating financial and accounting irregularities involving purported sales to an international distributor. In its news release, HPL also said it had fired its chairman and chief executive officer. The complaint says HPL's stock fell 72% on the news, dropping from the previous day's closing price of $14.10 to a low of $4 before Nasdaq halted trading in its stock. Trading has not yet resumed.
According to the lawsuit, HPL later revealed during a July 22, 2002 conference call with investors that $11 million of the $13.7 million in revenue it had reported in the quarter ended March 31, 2002 was based on "fictitious transactions that were supported by a trail of falsified documentation." According to the complaint, all the fictitious transactions were reported as sales to HPL's distributor. In fact, the distributor never agreed to enter into those transactions, the complaint says. In the conference call, HPL admitted that similar transactions may have been booked in prior quarters and that the company would have to restate its financial results for fiscal 2002 and possibly for 2001.
The lawsuit also accuses some company executives of taking personal advantage of the inflated stock price they allegedly helped to create by selling 85,500 shares of their individual holdings during the Class Period.
If you purchased HPL Technologies, Inc. common stock during the period July 31, 2001 through July 18, 2002, you may wish to contact the following attorney at LeBlanc & Waddell LLC to discuss your rights and interests:
Chad A. Dudley, Esq. LeBlanc & Waddell, LLC 5353 Essen Lane, Suite 420 Baton Rouge LA 70809 cdudley@lw-law.net (800) 988-3514
If you wish to apply to be lead plaintiff in this action, a motion must be filed on your behalf with the court no later than September 23, 2002. You may contact the attorneys at LeBlanc & Waddell LLC to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff and your interest in the class action. You may also retain counsel of your choice. To be a member of the class, however, you need not take any action at this time.
With offices in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, Monroe and Slidell, Louisiana, LeBlanc & Waddell, LLC represents investors in securities class action lawsuits and has experience in prosecuting class actions. The firm prides itself on its responsiveness to shareholders and their needs in each case.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.