| Company: | Petroleo Brasileiro S.A |
| Ticker Symbol: | PBR |
| Class Period: | May-20-10 to Nov-21-14 |
| Date Filed: | Dec-24-14 |
| Lead Plaintiff Deadline: | Feb-22-15 |
| Court: | Southern District of New York |
| Allegations: | |
Petrobras is an integrated oil and gas company that is the largest corporation in Brazil and one of the largest companies in Latin America in terms of revenues. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements, and omitted materially adverse facts, about the Company's business, operations and prospects. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that the defendants concealed from the investing public that: (1) the Company overstated its property, plant, and equipment on its balance sheet by overpricing contracts to certain companies relating to its refineries and operations and accepting kickbacks from construction companies approved for those contracts; (2) the Company was receiving multi-billion dollar bribes, from third party contractors to secure contracts from Petrobras; (3) the Company was in violation of its own Code of Ethics as its employees and executives were routinely accepting bribes from certain construction companies; (4) the Company's internal controls over financial reporting were ineffective and deficient; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, Petrobras's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. As a result of defendants' alleged false and misleading statements, the Company's stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.
According to the Complaint, through a series of revelations including the arrests of two top Petrobras executives and admission that the Company may have to adjust its historical financial statements to recognize the difference in overpricing its construction contracts, the closing price of Petrobras's ADSs have declined from $19.38 per ADS on September 5, 2014 to $10.50 per ADS on November 24, 2014, representing a decline of almost 46%.
If you acquired the securities of the defendants during the Class Period you may, no later than the Lead Plaintiff Deadline shown above, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff through counsel of your choice. You may also choose to remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff must meet certain requirements.
