Louisiana Teachers’ Retirement System, Baton Rouge, filed a class action lawsuit against Gateway Inc., claiming the company filed "misleading financial information” in press releases and with the SEC. The suit, which was filed in the District Court for the Southern District of California, claims Gateway violated SEC accounting rules by reporting revenues before they were earned, resulting in losses of $2 million. The $10 billion system owned 150,000 shares as of Dec. 31.
The system also claims Gateway revised financial information for all four quarters of 2000. "It represents an admission by the company that (the numbers) were inflated,” said Douglas McKeige, partner with the system’s legal counsel, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman.
John Spelich, a Gateway spokesman, declined to comment.