NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harwood Feffer LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been commenced in the Untied States District Court for the Western District of Texas on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Life Partners Holdings, Inc. ("Life Partners" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:LPHI) from May 29, 2007 through January 19, 2011, inclusive (the "Class Period").
No class has yet been certified in the above action. Class members will be represented by the lead plaintiff and counsel chosen by the lead plaintiff. If you wish to choose counsel to represent you and the Class, you must apply to be appointed lead plaintiff no later than April 4, 2011 and be selected by the court. The lead plaintiff will direct the litigation and participate in important decisions including whether to accept a settlement and how much of a settlement to accept for the Class in the action. The lead plaintiff will be selected from among applicants claiming the largest loss from investment in the Company during the Class Period. You are not required to have sold your shares to seek damages to serve as a Lead Plaintiff. You may contact the Harwood Feffer LLP website (http://www.hfesq.com) or Samuel K. Rosen, directly, at srosen@hfesq.com to ask any questions you may have in that regard.
The action, pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, was brought against Life Partners and certain of its officers and directors for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Life Partners, headquartered in Waco, Texas, describes itself as a financial services company and the parent company of Life Partners, Inc. which engages in the secondary market for life insurance known generally as "life settlements." Life Partners facilitates life settlement transactions which involve the sale of existing life insurance policies to purchasers who receive the death benefits under a policy when the insured dies.
The action alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made material misrepresentations and omissions regarding Life Partners's business and prospects. Specifically, defendants allegedly failed to disclose: (1) that Life Partners routinely used unrealistically short life expectancy estimates for life settlement policies it sold to investors; (2) that a significant number of individuals insured by policies sold by Life Partners lived beyond the life expectancy estimates provided to investors; (3) that by underestimating the life expectancy rates, Life Partners was able to charge investors large fees for brokering the life settlement policies and, thereby, significantly increase its revenues; (4) that, as a result, the Company's financial statements were false and misleading at all relevant times; and (5) that the Company lacked adequate internal and financial controls.
On December 21, 2010, The Wall Street Journal published an article on its investigation into Life Partners's life-expectancy estimates and business practices. The Journal noted that Life Partners "has made large fees from its life-insurance transactions while often significantly underestimating the life expectancies of people whose policies its customers invest in." On this news, the price of the Company's common stock fell $2.58 per share, or more than 17 percent, to close at $12.46 per share on January 20, 2011, on unusually heavy trading volume.
Harwood Feffer has been representing individual and institutional investors for many years, serving as lead counsel in numerous cases in federal and state courts. Please visit the Harwood Feffer LLP website (http://www.hfesq.com) for more information about the firm.
If you own Life Partners common stock and suffered a loss in excess of $100,000 during the Class Period and you wish to discuss this matter with us, or have any questions concerning your rights and interests with regard to this matter, please contact:
Robert I. Harwood, Esq.
Samuel K. Rosen, Esq.
Harwood Feffer LLP
488 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Phone Numbers: (877) 935-7400, (212) 935-7400
Email: rharwood@hfesq.com, srosen@hfesq.com
Website: http://www.hfesq.com
The Harwood Feffer LLP logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=454
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