Administration December 14, 2007

American Tower Settles with Pension Fund over Options Backdating

December 14, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Attorneys announced American Tower Corporation has agreed to a $14 million settlement agreement with Steamship Trade Association-International Longshoreman's Association Pension Fund (STA-ILA) and other plaintiffs for charges relating to stock options backdating.
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A news release from Labaton Sucharow LLP, lead counsel in the securities class action, and the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos, P.C., as counsel to STA-ILA, the lead plaintiff for the case, said the plaintiffs alleged that certain of American Towers current and former officers and directors improperly backdated the company’s stock option grants and made materially false and misleading statements to the public concerning the company’s financial results and option grant policies and accounting. The plaintiffs contended the misleading statements caused damages to investors.

A sweeping probe into stock option grant practices has resulted in charges against a number of corporate officers and investor lawsuits (See Pension Fund Wins First Court Round in Options Backdating Probe ).

Labaton Sucharow said it has been appointed as lead or co-lead counsel for the class in more than 25% of all securities fraud class actions alleging options backdating, including litigations against Mercury Interactive Corp. (See Mercury Makes $35M Settlement Offer for Options Backdating Fraud ) and Monster Worldwide, Inc. (See Corporate Carnage Continues in Stock Options Scandal with Monster Firing )

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