If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than May 9, 2005. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Lerach Coughlin at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058 or via e-mail at wsl@lerachlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/viisage/. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.
The complaint charges Viisage and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Viisage delivers technology identity solutions for governments, law enforcement agencies and businesses concerned with enhancing security, reducing identity theft, providing access control and protecting personal privacy.
The complaint alleges that, during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's increasing financial performance and future prospects. As alleged in the complaint, these statements were materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and/or misrepresented the following adverse facts, among others, which were known to defendants, or recklessly disregarded by them, at all relevant times: (a) that the Company lacked requisite internal controls, and, as a result, the Company's projections and reported results were based upon defective assumptions and/or manipulated facts; (b) that contrary to defendants' claims of profitability for the fourth quarter of 2004, the Company was actually on track to report losses; (c) that the Company's information technology systems were materially compromised, which also materially impacted the Company's ability to issue accurate financial statements and projections; (d) that defendants concealed these deficiencies for multiple quarters in order to: (i) delay the cost of implementing the proper system controls and thereby temporarily inflate the Company's net income; and (ii) provide defendants with a pliable system that would allow them to cause the Company to report financial results irrespective of their accuracy; and (e) that as a result of (a)-(d) above, the Company's projections for fiscal year ("FY") 2004 were grossly inflated.
As a result of the defendants' false statements, Viisage's stock traded at artificially inflated levels during the Class Period, which allowed the Company and its top officers and directors to sell more than $39 million worth of Company shares in Viisage's July 2004 Offering. However, after the above revelations seeped into the market, the Company's shares were hammered by massive sales of the Company's shares sending them down 60% from their Class Period high. In all, defendants' scheme caused hundreds of millions of dollars in lost market capitalization. This dramatic decline in share price was followed by an immediate outcry from Wall Street analysts who collectively downgraded the Company's shares.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Viisage publicly traded securities during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Lerach Coughlin, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.
Lerach Coughlin, a 140-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations. Lerach Coughlin lawyers have been responsible for more than $20 billion in aggregate recoveries. The Lerach Coughlin Web site (http://www.lerachlaw.com) has more information about the firm.
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