NEW YORK-Merrill Lynch & Co. and certain of its stock analysts are the target of at least two class action lawsuits filed in June in connection with Aether Systems Inc., Owings Mills, Md., a provider of software, services and support for connecting the desktop computers of enterprise customers with their mobile workers’ palmtop computers.
On behalf of all purchasers of Aether Systems stock between September 27, 2000 and February 7, 2001, the Philadelphia law firm of Berger and Montague P.C. filed suit against the New York-based investment bank June 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of N.Y.
“The complaint alleges that, among other things, throughout the class period defendants issued `buy’ recommendations to the public written by analysts who privately considered it to be a poor investment,” the law firm said.
“Further, while defendants were urging the public to purchase Aether stock, Merrill Lynch was selling over 660,000 shares of Aether, over 85 percent of its holdings as of Sept. 30, 2000.”
Berger and Montague said the lawsuit’s allegations are based on the investigation of New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, whose office recently reached an out-of-court settlement with Merrill Lynch.
“Other cases have previously been filed against the defendants relating to Aether recommendations. However, they are brought on behalf of purchasers during a much broader class period and do not allege any Merrill Lynch stock sales,” the Philadelphia law firm said.
Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, which has offices in New York and San Francisco, filed one of those early lawsuits June 19 in the same court. In this complaint, the class period encompasses purchasers of Aether Systems’ stock between November 15, 1999 and February 20, 2002.
