MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 17, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. announces that it has filed a securities fraud class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Immucor, Inc. ("Immucor" or the "Company"), Dr. Gioacchino De Chirico, Steven C. Ramsey, and Edward L. Gallup (the "Defendants") on behalf of persons who purchased Immucor common stock (Nasdaq:BLUD) between January 7, 2005 and August 29, 2005 (the "Class Period").
If you purchased or otherwise acquired Immucor common stock during the Class Period, and have been damaged thereby, you may request that the Court appoint you lead plaintiff no later than October 31, 2005. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff in this action through counsel of his or her choice, or may remain an absent class member. There are certain legal requirements for serving as lead plaintiff. If you have questions about the lawsuit or serving as lead plaintiff, please contact Karen Riebel, Esq. at khriebel@locklaw.com or at the address or phone number provided below.
The Complaint filed alleges that Defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, by misrepresenting that Immucor's financial statements and disclosures fairly and accurately reflected the Company's results of operations as required by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") and the Exchange Act. The Complaint also charges that Defendants' Sarbanes-Oxley certifications during the Class Period were false and misleading, as the Company, knowingly or with severe recklessness, lacked adequate internal controls and failed to keep proper books and records in violation of their well publicized Code of Corporate Conduct.
Defendants' fraud began to come to light on August 26, 2005, when the Company announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") had launched a formal investigation into payments made by its Italian unit and its president, Defendant De Chirico, to a physician connected with a hospital with which the Company was doing business in October 2003. On August 29, 2005, the Company revealed further that its Chief Financial Officer had resigned, that it would be revising its previously issued results for at least two quarters in order to account for a previously unrecorded accrued bonus, and that its Form 10-K for fiscal year 2005 would be further delayed due to additional accounting and auditing procedures the Company claimed were necessary to properly reflect the accrued bonus and to render the internal controls report required by Section 404 of Sarbanes Oxley.
In response to this news, the price of Immucor common stock dropped from a closing price of $28.61 on August 25, 2005, before the market learned of the SEC's formal investigation, to a closing price of $24.00 per share on August 30, 2005. 6 million shares of Immucor common stock were traded on August 30, 2005 alone -- nearly ten times the average daily volume.
During the first six months of 2005, Immucor insiders sold approximately 186,000 shares of stock for proceeds of approximately $4,970,000. During this time, Defendants led the market to believe that the internal control issue involving the Italian subsidiary was "an isolated event" that was not expected to lead to more than a $350,000 fine and increased investigation expenses that had already been factored into the Company's bottom line. In fact, however, the opposite was true -- Immucor's internal control problems, as the market later learned, were not confined to its Italian subsidiary and were not confined to this allegedly "isolated event."
If you have questions about the lawsuit or would like to discuss it with an attorney, please call or e-mail:
Karen H. Riebel, Esq. khriebel@locklaw.com Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. www.locklaw.com 100 Washington Avenue South, Suite 2200 Minneapolis, MN 55401 (612) 339-6900