BENSALEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors that purchased Top Ships Inc. (“Top Ships” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: TOPS) securities between January 17, 2017 and August 22, 2017, inclusive (the “Class Period”). Top Ships investors have until October 23, 2017 to file a lead plaintiff motion.
Investors suffering losses on their Top Ships investments are encouraged to contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss their legal rights in this class action at 888-638-4847 or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com.
The Complaint filed in this class action alleges that CEO Evangelos J. Pistiolis caused Top Ships to engage in a series of manipulative share issuance/sales transactions with Kalani Investments Limited (“Kalani”) through which Top Ships would sell its common shares and securities convertible into common shares to Kalani at a significant discount to market price and file registration statements so that Kalani could resell these shares into the market. When Kalani’s sales of Top Ships stock caused the price of Top Ships stock to decline, Top Ships would reverse split the stock, causing a certain number of outstanding shares to be merged into a single share, and thereby raise the price of Top Ships stock. Then, Top Ships would again sell securities to Kalani and the same pattern of transactions would ensue.
By August 2017, Top Ships, through Kalani, had issued and sold into the market tens of millions of shares of its common stock, heavily diluting the Company’s shares. While Top Ships has allegedly used the proceeds from these offerings to further enrich Pistiolis and his affiliates through various related-party transactions, the value of Top Ships common stock has dropped over 99%.
If you purchased shares of Top Ships, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com, or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.
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