NEW YORK, May 27, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wechsler Harwood filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, on behalf of all persons who purchased the securities of Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. ("Liquidmetal" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:LQMTE) between May 22, 2002 to March 30, 2004, inclusive, (the "Class Period") against defendants Liquidmetal and certain officers of the Company.
The complaint alleges that defendants violated the federal securities laws by issuing materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period that had the effect of artificially inflating the market price of the Company's securities.
Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants issued materially false and misleading statements that knowingly or recklessly failed to disclose and misrepresented the following adverse facts: (a) that Liquidmetal's financial statements were materially false and misleading; (b) that the Company was recording revenue on contingent contracts where contingencies were unfulfilled and in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 101; (c) that the Company was improperly booking revenue by infusing capital in customers in return for the customers' orders; and (d) that, as a result of the foregoing, defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the Company and their earnings projections.
On March 30, 2004, the Company announced that it would not file its 2003 Annual Form 10-K by March 30 "as previously anticipated due to additional time required to complete a previously announced review and analysis relating to the company's restatement of results for certain prior periods."
Subsequent to the Class Period, the Company announced that it had been threatened with de-listing by NASDAQ. The Company also announced that its independent auditors, Deloitte & Touche LLP ("Deloitte"), had resigned, and as such the Company's previously issued financial statements for 2002 and Deloitte's corresponding audit report, as well as Deloitte's review of the company's quarterly financial statements for the third quarter of 2002 and the first, second, and third quarters of 2003 and Deloitte's corresponding review reports, could no longer be relied upon. Deloitte advised the Company that it was unwilling to continue to rely upon the representations of the company's CEO, which were necessary in order to complete the restatement process and 2003 audit.
The Company also announced that in the course of an internal investigation, the Company's chief executive officer, defendant John Kang, reported that a personal sale of Company stock by Kang to Growell Metal Co., Ltd. ("Growell") included a personal agreement to ensure that the ultimate purchase price of the stock purchased by Growell would represent a specified discount to the Company's initial public offering price and that this personal agreement had subsequently been fulfilled.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than July 5, 2004 move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. 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:
Wechsler Harwood LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400 Virgilio Soler, Wechsler Harwood Shareholder Relations Department: vsoler@whesq.com extension 283. Please direct all e-mail correspondence to "Liquidmetal."
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca