NEW YORK, Feb. 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gainey McKenna & Egleston announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against MetLife, Inc. (“MetLife” or the “Company”) (NYSE:MET) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired MetLife securities on the open market from February 27, 2013, and January 29, 2018, inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover compensable damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The Complaint alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements that: (1) MetLife’s practices and procedures used to estimate its reserves set aside for annuity and pension payments were inadequate; (2) MetLife had inadequate internal controls over financial reporting; and (3) as a result, Defendants’ statements about MetLife’s business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
On December 15, 2017, the Company announced that it had been unable to locate some of its annuitant population and planned to provide an update upon the filing of MetLife’s Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2017. On that same day, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “MetLife Discloses Failure to Pay Thousands of Workers’ Pensions” which discussed the extent and duration of MetLife’s failure to pay pension benefits.
On this news, shares of MetLife fell $0.62 per share, or over 1.2%, over the following two trading days to close at $50.79 per share on December 19, 2017, damaging investors.
On January 29, 2018, MetLife issued a press release entitled “MetLife Preannounces Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2017 Earnings, Reschedules Earnings Release and Conference Call”, which announced that MetLife would reschedule its earnings releases and conference calls for the fourth quarter of and full year 2017, that the Company had identified material weaknesses in its internal controls, that the Company would have to revise certain of its prior financial statements, and that the SEC and New York Department of Financial Services had made inquiries to MetLife with respect to the foregoing issues. On this news, shares of MetLife fell $6.28 per share or over 11.6% over the next two trading days to close at $47.67 per share on January 31, 2018, damaging investors.
Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the Firm prior to the April 6, 2018 lead plaintiff motion deadline. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. If you wish to discuss your rights or interests regarding this class action, please contact Thomas J. McKenna, Esq. or Gregory M. Egleston, Esq. of Gainey McKenna & Egleston at (212) 983-1300, or via e-mail at tjmckenna@gme-law.com or gegleston@gme-law.com.
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