SANTA ANA, Calif., Aug. 30, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STEC, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEC) announced today that its chairman and chief executive officer, Manouch Moshayedi, has filed his answer in response to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil complaint filed last month. Mr. Moshayedi's answer was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
"As my answer shows, I pursued a sale of shares through a public offering at significant additional cost to me in order to establish a more transparent and orderly process, which also protected STEC and its shareholders from large and unexplained piecemeal sales that would have been triggered under my pre-existing 10b5-1 plan as the company's stock rose rapidly," said Mr. Moshayedi. "The answer also explains that I could not have known at the time of the stock offering the two key 'facts' on which the SEC's case largely rests.
"I am proud of my accomplishments and of the company I founded more than 22 years ago. I cannot let the SEC's unjustified claims damage my reputation or that of STEC. The answer filed yesterday is the first step in my defense, and my quick and thorough response to the SEC's complaint shows my intent to contest it vigorously. I remain confident that my position will be supported by the evidence."
Kevin C. Daly, Ph.D., the company's lead independent director, said: "STEC's board of directors unanimously supports Manouch's defense against the SEC complaint, whose allegations in our judgment are without merit. Manouch is as committed as ever to STEC providing enterprise-class solid-state drive solutions to our customers and to growing the company, and we support that mission 100 percent."
The full text of the answer is available at www.manouch-answer.com.
About STEC, Inc.
STEC, Inc. is a leading global provider of enterprise-class solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and solutions tailored to meet the high-performance, high-reliability and high-endurance needs of today's data-intensive server and storage platforms. With headquarters in Santa Ana, California and locations worldwide, STEC leverages almost two decades of solid-state knowledge and experience to design, manufacture and deliver the most comprehensive line of PCIe, SAS, SATA, and embedded SSDs on the market today. In addition, STEC's EnhanceIO™ SSD Cache Software enables IT managers to cost-effectively scale server application performance. For more information, please visit www.stec-inc.com.
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STEC, the STEC logo, and EnhanceIO are either registered trademarks or trademarks of STEC, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks or brand names referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, statements concerning the potential outcome of United States Securities and Exchange Commission civil litigation against the Company's chairman and chief executive officer; providing enterprise-class SSD solutions; and growing the Company's business. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. Although STEC believes that the forward-looking statements contained in this release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be fulfilled. Important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by STEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. Special attention is directed to the portions of those documents entitled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." The information contained in this press release is a statement of STEC's present intention, belief or expectation. STEC may change its intention, belief, or expectation, at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors, in STEC's assumptions or otherwise. STEC undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.