Whitehall Shareholder Suing Company For Fraud
February 15, 04
Whitehall Jewellers Inc said a shareholder has filed a securities fraud lawsuit against the company accusing it and some of its officers of artificially boosting the company's stock price.
The lawsuit, claiming the defendants caused the specialty retailer's shares to trade at artificially inflated levels by issuing false and misleading financial statements was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The Chicago-based company, which in December fired its chief financial officer over a different lawsuit that sparked investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Justice Department, said in a statement the accusations are without merit.
Whitehall and fellow U.S. retail jeweler Friedman's are facing SEC and Department of Justice investigations following a fraud lawsuit filed by Capital Factors against Cosmopolitan Gem that supplied jewelry to Friedman's which last month delayed filing its annual report with the SEC. Friedman's is in the middle of a fraud investigation related to the Capital Factors lawsuit.
Friedman's said in November it would restate its financial results for at least the last three years because of bad debts and the recent departure of CFO Victor Suglia following the resignation of CEO Bradley Stinn.