SLFI Sterling Financial (MM)

Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (�Lerach Coughlin�) (http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/sterlingfinancial/) today announced that a class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Sterling Financial Corp. (�Sterling Financial� or the �Company�) (NASDAQ: SLFI) common stock between April 27, 2004 and May 25, 2007, inclusive (the �Class Period�), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the �Exchange Act�). If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 24, 2007. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff�s counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Lerach Coughlin at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058 or via e-mail at wsl@lerachlaw.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.lerachlaw.com/cases/sterlingfinancial/. 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. The complaint charges Sterling Financial and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Exchange Act. Sterling Financial describes itself as a �diversified financial services company based in Lancaster, Pa.� The Company operates in four segments: Community Banking and Related Services, Leasing, Commercial Finance, and Trust and Investment Services. Throughout the Class Period, defendants issued numerous positive statements and filed quarterly reports with the SEC which described the Company�s increasing financial performance. These statements were materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and misrepresented the following adverse facts, among others: (i) that Sterling Financial was materially overstating its financial results by artificially inflating revenues in its Commercial Finance division, which represented approximately 41% of Sterling Financial�s net income. As detailed herein, Sterling Financial now expects to incur a charge of at least $145 million to $165 million and will be restating its financial statements for 2004 to 2006 and possibly for earlier periods; (ii) that the Company lacked adequate internal controls and was therefore unable to ascertain its true financial condition; and (iii) that as a result of the foregoing, the values of the Company�s net income and earnings were materially overstated at all relevant times. On April 30, 2007, the Company announced that it expected to be restating its financial statements for the years 2004 through 2006 as a result of �irregularities in certain financing contracts� at Equipment Finance LLC (�Equipment Finance�), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Lancaster County and the sole affiliate within the Company�s Commercial Finance segment. Moreover, the Company announced that two senior executives of Equipment Finance have been placed on leave. Upon this announcement, shares of the Company�s stock fell $4.07 per share or almost 20% to close at $16.65 per share, on heavy trading volume. Then, on May 24, 2007, Sterling Financial announced that the �previously reported irregularities� at Equipment Finance were a �direct result of collusion� by certain Equipment Finance employees. As a result, the Company expects to record a cumulative after-tax charge to its December 31, 2006 financial statements of at least $145 million to $165 million. Moreover, five Equipment Finance employees were terminated, including the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. In response to this announcement, on the next trading day, shares of the Company�s stock fell $6.19 per share, or almost 40%, to close at $9.97 share, on extremely heavy trading volume. Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all those who purchased the common stock of Sterling Financial between April 27, 2004 and May 25, 2007. Plaintiff is represented by Lerach Coughlin, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud. Lerach Coughlin, a 180-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations. Lerach Coughlin lawyers have been responsible for more than $20 billion in aggregate recoveries. The Lerach Coughlin Web site (http://www.lerachlaw.com) has more information about the firm.