NEW YORK, June 17, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE) ("BearingPoint" or the "Company") between August 14, 2003 to April 21, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period").
If you purchased or otherwise acquired BearingPoint securities on any world exchange between August 14, 2003 to April 21, 2005 and sustained damages, you may, no later than June 24, 2005, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff. Shareholders outside the United States may also join the action, regardless of which exchange was used to purchase the securities. To serve as lead plaintiff; however, you must meet certain legal requirements. You can join this class action as lead plaintiff online at http://www.murrayfrank.com/CM/NewCases/NewCases.asp.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period defendants issued materially false and misleading financial statements to the investing public regarding its financial performance, financial condition, and internal controls in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b 5 promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the complaint alleges that BearingPoint's reported financial results were inaccurate because, among other reasons, the Company overstated the value of the goodwill associated with certain foreign acquisitions long after it had become apparent that the value of such assets was impaired. The failure to timely write down the value of the goodwill enabled the Company to report artificially high earnings. In addition, BearingPoint misled investors to believe that its financial reports could be relied upon when, in fact, the Company's internal controls were inadequate to ensure such reliability.
On March 17, 2005, BearingPoint announced it would delay filing its annual report in order to validate financial information due to control deficiencies, confirm financial information, particularly recognized revenue, generated by the Company's new financial accounting system, and complete management's assessment of its internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Subsequently, on April 20, 2005, BearingPoint issued a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") disclosing that it discovered errors in its financial statements spanning the two previous years that would require the Company to take a material, non-cash charge during the fourth quarter of FY04 of between $250 million to $400 million as a result of the impairment of its goodwill with respect to the operations in its Europe, the Middle East, and Africa ("EMEA") segment. In addition, the Company disclosed that the SEC had begun an investigation into its accounting and that it had fired nine executives.
Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP and its predecessor firms have devoted its practice to shareholder class actions and complex commercial litigation for more than 15 years and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for shareholders in class actions throughout the United States.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca