NEW YORK, Feb. 20, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wechsler Harwood LLP today announced that it has filed a Federal Securities fraud class action on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Wave Systems Corporation (Nasdaq:WAVX) ("Wave" or the "Company") between July 31, 2003 through February 2, 2004, inclusive (the "Class Period").
The action, entitled Schulman v. Wave Systems Corp., et al, Case No. not yet assigned, is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and names as defendants, the Company, its Chief Executive Officer, Steven Sprague, and its Chief Operating Officer, Gerard T. Feeney. A copy of the complaint can be obtained from the Court or can be viewed on Wechsler Harwood web site at: www.whesq.com.
The complaint charges that defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of materially false and misleading statements to the market throughout the Class Period which statements had the effect of artificially inflating the market price of the Company's securities. In particular, it is alleged that, during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements to the investing public to inflate the Company's shares by associating the Company "publicly" with two of the World's biggest technology companies -- Intel and IBM. With the "appearance" of two new separate revenue streams, defendants sought to, and did, raise monies via a private placement for the Company, and certain of the Company's officers and directors pocketed over $1.5 million in insider trading proceeds.
On December 18, 2003, the Company issued a press release in which it announced that the SEC was investigating certain public statements made by Wave in August 2003, as well as certain insider selling that occurred around the same time. Defendants' public statements during the Class Period failed to disclose that (1) the Company's IBM announcement dated August 4, 2003 would result in no direct revenue to the Company; (2) the Company's Intel announcement dated July 31, 2003 was actually immaterial and would not generate any revenue to the Company until 2004, if ever; (3) the so-called Intel contract did not require Intel to purchase even one piece of software; and (4) the number of Trusted Platform Module-enabled motherboards shipped over the course of 2003 and 2004 would be insignificant.
The complaint further alleges that, as a result of the defendants' false statements, Wave stock traded at inflated levels during the Class Period, increasing to as high as $4.53 per share on August 5, 2003, whereby the Company and the Company's top officers and directors sold more than $8.6 million worth of their own shares.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired Wave securities during the Class Period, you may request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff by April 5, 2004. 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 has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded shareholders. The Wechsler Harwood website (www.whesq.com) has more information about the firm and detailed information regarding this matter. 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:
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca