NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Rabin & Peckel LLP plans to extend the class period for its class action complaint, alleging violations of federal securities law, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, civil action number 02 Civ. 1346(SHS). The amended Complaint will be brought on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Inc. ("J.P. Morgan" or the "Company") common stock (NYSE:JPM) between February 21, 1999 and January 28, 2002, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period").
The Complaint currently charges that J.P. Morgan recklessly misrepresented its risk and loss exposure related to its transactions and dealings with the Enron Corporation as being approximately $900 million. J.P. Morgan later admitted that, in fact, its total Enron related exposure was actually about $2.6 billion, or almost three times the earlier figure. Shortly thereafter, J.P. Morgan wrote down $1.13 billion in nonperforming assets, specifically related to losses generated by its dealings with Enron.
The Complaint will be amended to allege that J.P. Morgan, as early as the summer of 1997, failed to disclose to its investors the substantial financial risk associated with its dealings with Enron. Specifically, the Complaint will allege that J.P. Morgan, in certain natural gas and crude oil transactions, should have disclosed the risk that certain surety bond obligations in the hundreds of millions of dollars would not be met by the insurers. J.P. Morgan used its offshore entity Mahonia to set up trades in which it would pay Enron for future delivery of gas and oil. J.P. Morgan had backed up the deals with surety bonds - which insure that if the deals weren't completed, the bank would still get paid. The insurers claim that the J.P. Morgan/Enron transactions were shams and are now disputing J.P. Morgan's insurance claims.
Plaintiff is represented by the law firm of Rabin & Peckel LLP. Rabin & Peckel LLP and its predecessor firms have devoted its practice to shareholder class actions and complex commercial litigation for more than thirty years and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for shareholders in class actions throughout the United States. You can learn more information about Rabin & Peckel at www.rabinlaw.com.
If you purchased J.P. Morgan common stock between February 21, 1999 and January 28, 2002, you may, no later than April 15, 2002, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff. To serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. You can join this action as a lead plaintiff online at www.rabinlaw.com. If you wish to discuss this action further or have any questions concerning this announcement, or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Eric Belfi or Maurice Pesso, Rabin & Peckel LLP, 275 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, by telephone at (800) 497-8076 or (212) 682-1818, by facsimile at (212) 682-1892, or by e-mail at email@rabinlaw.com.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca