A class action suit seeks damages from a company that allegedly used underhanded tactics to inflate its worth.
Dean Rosales and Nirav Shah, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, filed a lawsuit April 27 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Forcefield Energy Inc., David Natan, Jason Williams and Richard St. Julien, citing significant losses and damages.
According to the complaint, the defendants are in the alternative energy industry, bringing market products such as light emitting diode commercial lights and fixtures or utilizing "waste heat," which involves making clean electricity from manufacturing sources. However, the suit states, Forcefield made false or misleading statements about the company and even enlisted paid promoters to inflate stock and hid some of its employees history with "fraudulent companies."
Once the media caught wind, the complaint states, the company's shares fell 21 percent in one day, April 15. Five days later the company's former chairman, St. Julien, resigned his position, was arrested and charged with "scheming to boost the company's share price in part by making secret payments to conspirators through a firm based in Belize," according to a published report.
Rosales and Shah ask the court to validate their action and award compensatory damages, costs and expenses. They are represented by attorneys Joseph E. Guglielmo, Thomas L. Laughlin and Joseph V. Halloran of Scott and Scott in New York, and David R. Scott of Scott and Scott in Colchester, Connecticut.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York case number: 1:15-cv-03279.