Overstock.com Announces Lawsuit Against Prime Brokers
Seeks $3.48 Billion in Damages
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com, Inc.
(Nasdaq: OSTK) announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the Superior
Court of California, County of San Francisco against Morgan Stanley & Co.
Incorporated, Goldman Sachs & Co., Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., Bank of
America Securities LLC, Bank of New York, Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse (USA)
Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith,
Inc., UBS Financial Services, Inc., and others. Certain shareholders of the
company have joined Overstock.com in the suit.
The suit alleges that the defendants, who control over 80% of the prime
brokerage market, participated in a massive, illegal stock market manipulation
scheme and that the defendants had no intention of covering such orders with
borrowed stock, as they are required to do, causing what are referred to as
"fails to deliver." The suit also alleges that the defendants' actions caused
and continue to cause dramatic distortions with regard to the nature and
amount of trading in the company's stock which have caused the share price of
the company's stock to dramatically drop. The suit asserts that a persistent
large number of "fails to deliver" creates large downward pressure on the
price of a company's stock and that the amount of "fails to deliver" has
exceeded the company's entire supply of outstanding shares.
The suit accuses the defendants of violations of California securities
laws and common law, and California's Unfair Business Practices Act. The
company is seeking damages of $3.48 billion.
"I have a fiduciary duty to defend the company. These manipulative
activities have caused tremendous damage to Overstock," said Patrick Byrne,
chairman and chief executive officer of Overstock.com. "I believe that this
conduct is harming our company and our shareholders deeply, and that investors
have been failed by those who have a duty protect them. The best way to
address and solve the problem is to get it in front of a jury of
12 Californians."
About Overstock.com
Overstock.com, Inc. is an online "closeout" retailer offering discount,
brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet. The company offers its
customers an opportunity to shop for bargains conveniently, while offering its
suppliers an alternative inventory liquidation distribution channel.
Overstock.com, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a publicly traded company
listed on the NASDAQ Global Market System and can be found online at
http://www.overstock.com.
Overstock.com is a registered trademark of Overstock.com, Inc.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, statements regarding the amount of damages that the
company will seek, as well as all such other risks as identified in our Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and all our subsequent filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain and identify important
factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Overstock.com, Inc.
02/02/2007
CONTACT: Media, Jared Matkin, +1-801-947-3880, jmatkin@overstock.com, or
Investors, Kevin Moon, +1-801-947-3282, kmoon@overstock.com, both of
Overstock.com, Inc.