Alleging Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violations by company executives, a class action lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all securities purchasers of Infineon Technologies AG (Germany).
According to law firm Schiffrin & Barroway (Bala Cynwyd, PA), which filed the suit, the suit concerns securities purchases between March 13, 2000, through September 15, and charges, "Infineon, Ulrich Schumacher, Peter Bauer, and Peter J. Fischl with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder."
Specifically, the complaint alleges that Infineon and the named executives did not disclose and correctly represent the following facts which were known to them, or recklessly disregarded by them: (1) that the company entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy in the US and elsewhere to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of DRAM to be sold to original manufacturers of personal computers and servers; (2) that as a result of the price fixing, the company was able to maintain higher profit margins; (3) that as a consequence of the foregoing, the company's announced financial results were in violation of generally accepted accounting principles; and (4) that the company's financial results were materially inflated at all relevant times.
An Infineon spokesman said that the company would vigorously defend itself in regard to the suit, which it does not believe has any merit. Further, the spokesman reiterated that Infineon has worked out most of the settlements with its OEMs and expects to close the remainder of the settlements in the near future.
