NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Abbey Gardy, LLP commenced a Class Action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California on behalf of a class (the "Class") of all persons or entities who purchased securities of Leap Wireless International, Inc. ("Leap" or the "Company") (OTCBB:LWIN) between February 11, 2002 and July 24, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The Complaint was filed on December 5, 2002 (02 CV 02388J) and was assigned to the Honorable Napoleon A. Jones, Jr.
The Complaint names as defendants Leap, Harvey P. White, Leap's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Susan G. Swenson, Leap's President, Chief Operating Officer and director, Manford Leonard, Leap's Vice President and Controller and Jill E. Barad, Leap's Accounting Officer and director. The Complaint alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market during the Class Period thereby artificially inflating the price of Leap's securities. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that in starting on February 11, 2002, the day after the Company publicly announced its financial results for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2002, defendants concealed the deteriorated value of its wireless license assets by undertaking a fraudulent impairment test of those assets which grossly overstated the value of Leap's wireless license assets in its financial statements. The Complaint alleges that defendants were motivated by the need to preserve the image of Leap as a viable wireless company with valuable assets, sufficient to persuade lenders, investors and vendors to provide capital, loans and equipment to the Company. Defendants issued materially false and misleading statements on February 11, 2002, April 24, 2002 and May 2, 2002. On July 24, 2002, the last day of the class period, Leap announced its financial results for its second quarter of 2002 and admitted for the first time that circumstances existed throughout the year were adversely affecting the Company. On this news the market price of Leap shares fell from a Class Period high of $10.00 to below $1.00 and are presently trading at less that $.40 per share, Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all those who purchased or otherwise acquired Leap securities during the Class Period. If you purchased or otherwise acquired Leap securities during the Class Period, and either lost money on the transaction or still hold the securities, you may wish to join in the action to serve as lead plaintiff. If you purchased Leap securities during the Class Period, you may, no later than 60 days from the date of this Notice, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff.
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 plaintiffs." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.
Abbey Gardy, LLP has been retained as one of the law firms to represent the Class. The attorneys at Abbey Gardy, LLP have extensive experience in securities class action cases, and have played lead roles in major cases resulting in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars to investors. If you would like to discuss this action or if you have any questions concerning this Notice or your rights as a potential class member or lead plaintiff, you may contact Nancy Kaboolian, Esq. of Abbey Gardy, LLP at (800) 889-3701 or email Nkaboolian@abbeygardy.com.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca