Bernstein Liebhard LLP Reminds Investors of the Deadline to File a Lead Plaintiff Motion in a Securities Class Action Lawsuit Against Eastman Kodak Company

Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action that has been filed on behalf of investors that purchased or acquired the securities of  Eastman Kodak Company between July 27, 2020 and August 11, 2020 (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you purchased Kodak securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Kodak Shareholder Lawsuit or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or MGuarnero@bernlieb.com.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose that the Company had granted Defendant Continenza and several other Company insiders millions of dollars’ worth of stock options, immediately prior to the Company publicly disclosing that it had received a $765 million loan from the DFC to produce drugs to treat COVID-19, which Defendants knew would cause Kodak’s stock to immediately increase in value once the deal was announced.  In addition, while in possession of this material non-public information, Defendant Continenza and other Company insiders purchased tens of thousands of the Company’s shares immediately prior to the announcement, again at prices that they knew would increase exponentially once news of the loan became public.

On August 1, 2020, a Reuters article reported new details of the “unusual” 1.75 million option grant to Continenza.  The article stated that according to “a person familiar with the arrangement,” the option award “occurred because of an understanding” between Continenza and Kodak’s Board of Directors “that had previously neither been listed in his employment contract nor made public.” Further, “[t]he decision to grant Continenza options was never formalized or made into a binding agreement, which is why it was not disclosed previously.”  Concurrently market observers questioned why Kodak, historically a technology company, had been selected for a DPA loan related to pharmaceutical supplies over companies with more experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

In reaction to this news, Kodak’s stock price plummeted $6.91 per share to close at $14.94 per share on August 3, 2020 – a decline of over 34% per share.

On August 5, 2020, several Congressional committees sent a joint letter to Defendant Continenza seeking documents about the loan, insider trading, and stock options for their review of “DFC’s decision to award this loan to Kodak despite your company’s lack of pharmaceutical experience and the windfall gained by you and other company executives as a result of this loan” which raised “questions that must be thoroughly examined.” The committees also sent a document request to the DFC’s Chief Executive Officer on the same day, inquiring about the Kodak loan, which the letter noted was “an organization that was on the brink of failure in 2012 and was unsuccessful in its previous foray into pharmaceutical manufacturing.”

On August 7, 2020, after the market closed, the DFC announced, “on July 28, we signed a Letter of Interest with Eastman Kodak. Recent allegations of wrongdoing raise serious concerns.  We will not proceed any further unless these allegations are cleared.”

On this news, the Company’s stock price declined $4.15, or 28%, from $14.88 per share on August 7, 2020, to $10.73 per share on August 10, 2020.  

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 13, 2020. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn’t require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

If you purchased Kodak securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/eastmankodakcompany-kodk-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-stock-fraud-290/apply/ or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or MGuarnero@bernlieb.com.

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

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Contact Information

Matthew E. Guarnero
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
https://www.bernlieb.com
(877) 779-1414 
MGuarnero@bernlieb.com