CLEVELAND, March 14, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Landskroner - Grieco, Ltd. announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit with Civil Action Number 1:03-CV-0704 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Intercept, Inc. ("INTERCEPT" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:ICPT) between September 16, 2002 and January 9, 2003 (the "Class Period"). The suit is against INTERCEPT, John W. Collins, G. Lynn Boggs, Scott Meyerhoff, and Garrett M. Bender. A copy of the complaint is available from the court. You may also request a copy of the complaint by emailing Jack Landskroner at jack@landskronerlaw.com. However, if you wish to view online a copy of the first complaint filed in this action, you may go to our Atlanta counsel's website, www.classlaw.com and click on Intercept.
The deadline to file lead plaintiff papers, for those class members wishing to serve in this capacity, is May 2, 2003. There are certain legal requirements to serve as lead plaintiff, which we would be happy to discuss with you. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights with respect to this matter, you may contact Jack Landskroner or Debra Spaller at Landskroner - Grieco, Ltd. by calling toll free at 866-522-9500 or by emailing jack@landskronerlaw.com. The website is www.landskronerlaw.com.
The suit charges the defendants with violations of the federal securities laws. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that defendants made material misrepresentations and/or omitted to make material disclosures during the Class Period due to their false assurances that the adult pornography internet portion of their merchant processing business was insignificant and due to their failure to disclose that VISA regulations implemented on November 1, 2002, which were targeted specifically to address risks of internet pornography card processing, had caused a material loss of business. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that defendants knew by the time their fourth quarter earnings estimate was issued on November 4, 2002 that they would suffer a material loss of business because defendants were aware by November 1, 2002 which of their customers had met the deadline to become sponsored merchants under the new VISA regulations.
In a January 9, 2003 press release, INTERCEPT announced that it was revising its fourth quarter 2002 earnings per share estimate downward to $0.92 to $0.98 from its earlier, November 4, 2002, estimate of $1.11 to $1.15. The Company cited "reduced revenues in our merchant area result(ing) primarily from the iBill operations, which experienced a large loss of merchant customers following the implementation of a new credit card association rule in mid-November." Following these disclosures, shares of INTERCEPT declined from the Class Period high of $19.11 per share to close near $7.00 per share on January 10, 2003 on unusually high volume. By the close of trading on January 10, 2003, the stock had lost more than half of its value just prior to the disclosure.
Landskroner - Grieco, Ltd. is a law firm whose practice areas include securities fraud and consumer class action litigation. Jack Landskroner is a board certified trial advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and has been counsel of record in class action cases litigated across the county. For more information or questions about our pending action against Intercept or about Landskroner - Grieco, Ltd. please contact Jack Landskroner at 866-522-9500 (toll-free), by e-mail at jack@landskronerlaw.com or at 1360 West 9th St., Suite 200, Cleveland, Ohio 44113 or visit its website at www.landskronerlaw.com.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.