NEW YORK, May 20, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The law firm Seeger Weiss LLP, www.seegerweiss.com, announces that it filed a class action lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. ("FBR") (NYSE:FBR) between January 29, 2003 and April 25, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period"), pursuing remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").
The complaint alleges that FBR, an investment bank that provides investment banking, institutional brokerage and asset management services, and invests as a principal in mortgage-backed securities and merchant banking investments failed to disclose and misrepresented the following material adverse facts which were known to it and the individual defendants or recklessly concealed by them: (1) The 2001 PIPE transaction manipulation was extremely serious and reached the highest level of the Company; (2) FBR's earnings would be adversely affected by charges relating to the investigation into the PIPE transaction and the problems the bad publicity would cause FBR; and (3) FBR's 2005 EPS would be much worse than market expectations because of the PIPE transaction and the interest rate increases would have a much more severe impact on FBR's business than defendants had represented to the market.
The complaint charges that defendants FBR, Emanuel J. Friedman (Co-CEO), Eric F. Billings (Co-CEO) and Kurt R. Harrington (CFO) (collectively "defendants") with violations of the Exchange Act by issuing a series of materially false and misleading statements to the market during the Class Period. The complaint alleges that the first sign of defendants' misrepresentations was on November 9, 2004, when FBR disclosed in its third quarter 2004 Form 10-Q that the SEC and the NASD was investigating its role as a placement agent in 2001 as a placement agent for an issuer in a PIPE (private investment in public equity) transaction. Reaction to this news caused FBR's stock to drop to $16.93 per share, almost 40% lower compared to the Class Period high. The complaint alleges that the market, however, was not alerted to the seriousness of these investigations. Then unexpectedly on April 4, 2005, FBR announced that one of its founders, Emanuel J. Friedman resigned. On April 25, 2005, FBR announced lower than expected preliminary financial results for the first quarter 2005, including a charge for its liability in the PIPE transaction. News of this caused FBR stock to drop $12.52 on volume of 7.5 million shares.
Seeger Weiss is a New York-based firm that is active in major complex litigations and class actions pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Seeger Weiss has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers and others and has recovered millions of dollars for clients and class members.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than July 11, 2005 move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Seeger Weiss LLP, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact us:
Specific Case Information: http://www.seegerweiss.com/cases/Cases.aspx?ID=59
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.