SEATTLE, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Hagens Berman Sobol
Shapiro LLP ("Hagens Berman")
announced that a class action has been commenced in the United
States District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of purchasers of Frontier
Financial Corporation ("Frontier") (Nasdaq: FTBK) common stock
during the period between July 22,
2008 and March 16, 2010,
inclusive (the "Class Period"). Hagens Berman is currently
investigating whether the Class Period should be expanded through
April 30, 2010, the date the bank was
placed into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Company.
(Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080317/AQM144LOGO)
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court
no later than June 14, 2010. If you
wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this
notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's
counsel, Karl Barth of Hagens Berman at (206) 623-7292, or via e-mail
at FTBK@hbsslaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can
view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action
online at
http://www.hbsslaw.com/cases-investigations/frontier-bank. Any
member of the putative 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.
The complaint charges Frontier and certain of its officers and
directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Frontier is a financial holding company that, prior to the FDIC
intervention, provided financial services through its commercial
bank subsidiary, Frontier Bank.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants
issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the
Company's business and financial results and engaged in improper
behavior which harmed Frontier's investors by failing to disclose
the extent of seriously delinquent commercial real estate loans and
construction and land loans. The Company also failed to adequately
and timely record losses for its impaired loans, causing its
financial results and its Tier 1 capital ratio to be materially
false. As a result of defendants' false and misleading statements,
Frontier stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the
Class Period, reaching a high of $186.00 per share on September 19, 2008.
In July 2008, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp ("FDIC") and the state of Washington's Department of Financial
Institutions ("DFI") conducted an investigation into Frontier's
banking practices and cited Frontier with engaging in certain
"unsafe and unsound" practices. In March
2009, Frontier entered into a cease-and-desist order with
banking regulators and agreed to take certain corrective actions
related to the findings of the July
2008 report by the FDIC and DFI.
Then on March 16, 2010, after the
market closed, Frontier announced that it had received a
Supervisory Prompt Corrective Action Directive from the FDIC. The
FDIC warned that the Company was "critically undercapitalized"
which could lead to Frontier being placed into conservatorship or
receivership, raising doubt about the ability of the Company to
continue as a going concern. Frontier further restated its
previously announced fourth quarter and year end 2009 results as
the FDIC determined that Frontier's loan loss provision and its
valuation adjustment of other real estate owned were understated by
$30 million and $3.5 million, respectively. On this news,
Frontier's stock dropped $1.35 per
share to close at $2.89 per share on
March 17, 2010, a one-day decline of
nearly 32%, on volume of 710,400 shares.
On April 30, 2010, the FDIC placed
Frontier Bank in receivership. When trading in Frontier
shares resumed, they immediately dropped to $0.40 per share – a loss of more than 99% from
the Class Period highs.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers
of Frontier common stock during the Class Period (the "Class"), and
possibly through April 30, 2010. The
plaintiff is represented by Hagens
Berman, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class
actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial
fraud.
Media Contact – Mark Firmani |
206-443-9357 | mark@firmani.com
SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP