NEW YORK, April 17, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Brualdi Law Firm, P.C. announces that a lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Mechel OAO ("Mechel" or the "Company") (NYSE:MTL) securities between October 3, 2007 and July 25, 2008, inclusive (the "Class Period") for violations of the federal security laws.
No class has yet been certified in the above action. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. If you purchased Mechel OAO securities during the Class Period, and wish to move the court for appointment of lead plaintiff, you must do so by June 8, 2009. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff will be selected from among applicants claiming the largest loss from investment in the Company during the Class Period. You do not need to seek appointment as a lead plaintiff in order to share in any recovery.
To be a member of the class you need not take any action at this time, and you may retain counsel of your choice. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this Notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Sue Lee at The Brualdi Law Firm, P.C. 29 Broadway, Suite 2400, New York, New York 10006, by telephone toll free at (877) 495-1187 or (212) 952-0602, by email to slee@brualdilawfirm.com or visit our website at http://www.brualdilawfirm.com.
The Complaint charges that Mechel and certain of its officers and directors violated federal securities laws. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose the following: (i) Mechel had engaged in anticompetitive conduct by employing a discriminatory pricing policy for raw material sales between domestic and foreign steel firms; (ii) Mechel had engaged in monopolistic conduct by fixing and maintaining coking coal prices at artificially high levels and unreasonably refusing contracts, discovery of which would cause such conduct to cease and cause a significant decline in future revenue; (iii) the Company had used a sophisticated sales and distribution scheme involving wholly owned offshore trading companies to evade paying taxes on a portion of its revenue; and (iv) Mechel's financials were not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. According to the Complaint, after Vladimir Putin called for an investigation into Mechel's pricing policies on July 24, 2008, and, again, after Prime Minister Putin revealed, on July 28, 2008, the Company's evasion of taxes, the value of Mechel's stock declined significantly.