ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 19, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Reinhardt Wendorf & Blanchfield announces that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Xethanol Corporation ("Xethanol" or "the Company") (AMEX:XNL) common stock during the period between January 31, 2006 and August 8, 2006, inclusive (the "Class Period").
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than December 26, 2006. If you wish to discuss this case or have questions concerning this case or your rights or interests, please contact: Garrett D. Blanchfield of Reinhardt Wendorf & Blanchfield at 800-465-1592 or 651-287-2100, via facsimile at 651-287-2103 or via email at g.blanchfield@rwblawfirm.com. For more information about Reinhardt Wendorf & Blanchfield, visit our website at www.rwblawfirm.com.
The complaint charges Xethanol and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Among other things, plaintiff claims that defendants' material omissions and dissemination of materially false and misleading statements concerning Xethanol's financial performance and prospects caused the Company's stock price to become artificially inflated, inflicting damages on investors. Xethanol engaged in the production and marketing of ethanol and its co-products in the United States. Ethanol, a clean burning renewable fuel, is used as a primary gasoline additive. The Complaint alleges that as a result of the recent rise in gasoline prices, alternative energy companies such as Xethanol became a favored investment. Xethanol distinguished itself from other ethanol producers by claiming it had the ability to develop and optimize "biomass," post-industrial food or paper production waste which has no or even negative cost, rather than corn, as the substantial raw material for ethanol production. Xethanol repeatedly stated that the Company would first sustain itself on revenues produced from traditional corn ethanol production, then enter its second phase of development, which was to commercialize biomass ethanol production in the immediate near-term. In fact, however, Xethanol was suffering from a host of undisclosed adverse factors that were negatively impacting Xethanol's business, and it appears that the Company does not have the ability to commercialize biomass production in the foreseeable near term. It was only at the end of the Class Period that investors learned the truth about the Company. Upon release of this information, the Company's share price fell from a Class Period high of $15.00 per share in April 2006, to less than $4.00 per share at the end of the Class Period. The dissemination of materially false and misleading statements to the public during the Class Period allowed the Company to prop up the Company's share price long enough for Company insiders to sell millions of their personally held Xethanol shares to unsuspecting investors at prices that were artificially inflated by defendants' false and misleading statements. Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Xethanol stock during the Class Period. The plaintiff is represented by Reinhardt Wendorf & Blanchfield, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.
Reinhardt Wendorf & Blanchfield and its predecessor firm have devoted its practice to shareholder class actions and complex commercial litigation for more than thirty 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.primenewswire.com/ca.