Max Internet CEO and President Resign
After over a month of fighting off investor class action lawsuits, the president and CEO of Max Internet Communications (www.maxic.com), resigned Wednesday.
Lawrence R. Biggs, Jr, CEO and Donald McLellan, President stepped down giving way to an interim management team. Chairman of the company, Robert F. Kuhnemund, will serve as interim CEO and President, while searching for a new chief executive.
According to a company release, both McLellan and Biggs will remain "actively involved" in transitioning a new management team but will have no formal titles. Kuhnemund said that the board felt that a "different set of skills and experience were required at this stage of the company's growth".
Max IC has been the target of over half-dozen class action investor lawsuits that have been filed in the last few months. One law firm, Berman DeValerio & Pease, said in a statement last month that Max Internet had improperly tallied sales based on "false documentation, rendering false previously reported financial results" by more than $10 million. As a result, the plaintiffs claim, Max's stock price was "artificially" inflated. Another law firm claimed that Max made false financial results and false statements.
On May 12th, Max admitted that its results for its first and second quarters (ended September 30, 1999 and December 31, 1999), had been overstated due to falsified documentation.
In August, Max released a statement saying that it believes the allegations to be "factually and legally inaccurate and intends to defend these actions vigorously".
Law firms starting action against Max IC include Spector, Roseman, & Kodroff, Cauley & Geller, Milberg Weiss, Leo W. Desmond, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, Schiffrin & Barroway, Rabin & Peckel and others.
Max's stock has dropped dramatically this year going from a high of 52-week high of 28 1/4 to current trading below a dollar.
Dallas, Texas-based Max Internet Communications is a maker of media processing cards and appliances aimed at the video market.