NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The law firm of Wechsler Harwood LLP announces that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of purchasers of Schering Plough Corporation ("Schering" or the "Company") (NYSE:SGP) common stock for the period between October 1, 2002 and October 3, 2002 (the "Class Period").
The complaint alleges that Schering, Richard Jay Kogan ("Kogan"), its Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, and Putnam Investment Management, LLC ("Putnam") violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Act"). Schering and its subsidiaries are engaged in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceutical products worldwide.
Defendants violated the Act as a result of Kogan, on behalf of Schering, selectively provided non-public material, adverse information about Schering's projected earnings to management of Putnam at a luncheon meeting on October 1, 2002. Kogan made further selective disclosures of this non-public information to analysts at mid-day on October 3, 2002. It was not until approximately 11:00 p.m. on October 3, 2002 that Schering publicly announced that its 2003 and 2004 earnings would be far below analysts expectations. As a result of the selective disclosure by defendant Kogan of this adverse, material, non-public information to defendant Putnam and others, defendant Putnam and the others were able to sell enormous amounts of Schering shares before the general public received such information, thereby enabling the tippees to benefit from the receipt of their inside information to the detriment of plaintiff and the Class. From the time defendant Putnam first learned of the material inside information through the close of the market on October 4, 2002, Schering stock plunged from $21.80 per share to as low as $16.10 per share, a drop of over 25%.
If you purchased Schering securities during the Class Period, you may, no later than December 9, 2002, move to be appointed as a Lead Plaintiff in this class action. 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 Wechsler Harwood, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Wechsler Harwood, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions involving financial fraud, has prosecuted securities, antitrust and consumer class actions for over 10 years. For more information about Wechsler Harwood LLP, please visit its website at www.whesq.com.
If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:
Wechsler Harwood LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400 Samuel K. Rosen, Esq. at srosen@whesq.com or Ramon Pinon IV at rpinon@whesq.com.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca