Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is expanding an ongoing investigation to determine whether Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. and certain of its officers and directors made false and misleading statements and/or omissions in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The investigation originally involved purchases of Ocean Power through June 10, 2014. The investigation has now grown to cover purchases of Ocean Power through July 14, 2014 in light of further developments.
A class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey by another law firm on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. OPTT -4.71% between January 14, 2014 and July 14, 2014 including those who purchased shares pursuant or traceable to the Company’s April 4, 2014 offering (the “Class Period”).
The claims in this case arise from the Company’s recent announcement that it had terminated its CEO for cause and had formed a special committee to investigate an agreement between Victorian Wave Partners Pty. Ltd (“Victorian Wave”) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (“ARENA”), and related public statements concerning the project. Victorian Wave is a project-specific operating entity wholly-owned by the Company’s subsidiary Ocean Power (Australasia) Pty. Ltd. One of Ocean Power’s principal projects, which is conducted through Victorian Wave, is the development of an ocean wave-based power station off the coast of Portland, Victoria, Australia (the “Australian Project”). Subsequently, the Company announced that Victorian Wave was cancelling its agreement with ARENA because it was no longer commercially viable.
The complaint alleges that Ocean Power and Charles Dunleavy, its former CEO (“Defendants”), misrepresented and/or failed to disclose: the true nature and circumstances of the agreement between Victorian Wave and ARENA; that the renewable energy project off the Australian coast was not commercial viable; and, as a result, Defendants’ statements concerning the Australian Project, and positive statements about the Company’s business, operations and prospects, were materially false and misleading or lacked a reasonable basis for being made during the relevant time period.
The Class Period ends on July 14, 2014, when the Company announced that it was canceling its plans to build the renewable-energy project off the Australian coast altogether. The Company also announced that it would return AUD5.6 million it received from the government to support the project. The Company’s stock price declined 23% in response.
Cohen Milstein encourages all investors who purchased Ocean Power common stock between January 14, 2014 and July 14, 2014 including those who purchased shares pursuant or traceable to the Company’s April 4, 2014 offering, or former employees with information concerning this matter to contact the firm.
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC has significant experience in prosecuting investor class actions and actions involving securities fraud. The firm has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Palm Beach Gardens, and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the nation.
The firm has been repeatedly appointed by federal courts across the country to lead positions in complex multi-district or consolidated litigation. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC has taken a lead role in numerous important cases on behalf of defrauded investors, and has been responsible for a number of outstanding recoveries which, in the aggregate, total over one billion dollars. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.