NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Kaplan Fox (kaplanfox.com) has filed a class action suit against AOL Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE:AOL), certain of its officers and directors and Ernest & Young, LLP ("Ernst & Young"), in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. This suit is brought on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased, converted, exchanged or otherwise acquired the securities of America Online ("AOL") between July 19, 1999 and January 10, 2001 and all persons who purchased, converted, exchanged or otherwise acquired the securities of AOL Time Warner, Inc. ("AOL Time Warner") between January 11, 2001 and July 17, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period").
The complaint alleges that AOL Time Warner and certain of its officers and directors violated the federal securities laws. The complaint alleges, among other things, that during the Class Period defendants made material misrepresentations and/or omitted to state material facts relating to AOL's online advertising revenues. The complaint further alleges that, AOL and AOL Time Warner booked revenue form one-time payments received from online advertising clients as advertising revenue in order to artificially inflate their revenues derived from online advertising.
The complaint also alleges that Ernst & Young, LLP violated the federal securities laws by certifying AOL Time Warner's financial statements as incorporated in AOL Time Warner's Annual Report for its fiscal year 2001 filed with the SEC on March 25, 2002 even though it knew (or recklessly failed to discover) that AOL had counted in revenue sums received in connection with selling online advertising for online auction site eBay. When the truth was revealed regarding AOL in an article in The Washington Post on July 18, 2002, AOL Time Warner stock dropped to as low as $11.75, down from its Class Period high of $58.51.
As a result of Defendants' false and misleading statements, investors were damaged, by purchasing AOL and AOL Time Warner securities at artificially inflated levels during the Class Period.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of the Class and is represented by Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP. Our firm, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and New Jersey, has many years of experience prosecuting investor class actions and actions involving financial fraud. For more information about Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, you may visit our website at www.kaplanfox.com
If you are a member of the Class, you may move the court no later than September 16, 2002 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the Class. In order to serve as a lead plaintiff, you must meet certain legal requirements.
If you have any questions about this Notice, the action, your rights, or your interests, please e-mail us at mail@kaplanfox.com or contact:
Frederic S. Fox, Esq. Joel B. Strauss, Esq. Hae Sung Nam, Esq. Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP 805 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor New York, NY 10022 (800) 290-1952 (212) 687-1980 Fax: (212) 687-7714 E-mail address: mail@kaplanfox.com Laurence D. King, Esq. Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP 601 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 772-4700 Fax: (415) 772-4707 E-mail address: mail@kaplanfox.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca