BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Oct. 30, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The following statement was issued today by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP:
Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NYSE:AEP) between May 17, 1999 and October 9, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period").
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP (Marc A. Topaz, Esq. or Stuart L. Berman, Esq.) toll free at 1-888-299-7706 or 1-610-667-7706, or via e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com.
The complaint charges American Electric Power Company, Inc. and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants made misstatements of material facts and omitted to state material facts in their public statements and elsewhere, including failing to disclose that AEP was engaging in electricity trades involving transactions involving sequential trades with the same terms and counter parties, overstating AEP's revenues in its SEC filings and elsewhere by including in such revenues sums received in connection with such sequential trades with the same terms and counter parties, and failing to disclose that AEP's traders were falsely reporting energy prices to Platt's, which publishes energy market reports regarding power trading prices and volumes.
The complaint alleges that after Wall Street learned about widespread practices in the power industry regarding so-called "round-trip" trades and AEP admitted to having engaged in transactions involving sequential trades with the same terms and counter parties, AEP stock tumbled to as low as $22.74 following an earnings warning on July 18th, down 53% from a 52-week high of $48.90. The complaint alleges that following a disclosure on October 9th that five AEP traders had been dismissed for reporting false and misleading price information for use in indexes compiled by trade publications, shares of AEP further declined to a 52-week low of $15.10.
The complaint further alleges that defendants Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. and Salomon Smith Barney Inc. violated Section 11 of the Securities Act in connection with misstatements and omissions of material fact contained in the Prospectus for a secondary offering of AEP stock in June 2002, of which they served as joint book-running managers.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of class members and is represented by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP, which prosecutes class actions on behalf of investors and shareholders. For more information on Schiffrin & Barroway, or to sign-up to participate in this action online, please visit http://www.sbclasslaw.com/cgi/signup.cgi.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than December 23, 2002, 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.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca