Lincoln Educational Services Corporation Investor Files Lawsuit Over Alleged Securities Laws Violations
An investor in Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against Lincoln Educational Services Corp. over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws.
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, located in West Orange, NJ, is a provider of career-oriented post-secondary education. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation reported increasing total revenue with the past four years. Lincoln Educational Services Corp reported total revenue in 2006 of $310.63million, in 2007 $327.77milloin, in 2008 $376.91million, and in 2009 $552.54million. Its net income increased over the same period from $15.55million in 2006 to $49.24million in 2009. According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation between March 3, 2010 and August 5, 2010, that Lincoln Educational Services and certain of its Officers issued between March 3, 2010 and August 5, 2010, a series of materially false and misleading statements related to its business and operations in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
On August 4, 2010, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee conducted a hearing on for-profit education firms, where Government Accountability Office representative, George Kutz, presented the findings of report GAO-10-948T, "For-Profit Colleges: Undercover Testing Finds Colleges Encouraged Fraud in Deceptive and Questionable Marketing Practices." The report detailed undercover investigations into 15 for-profit schools that uncovered misconduct by school staff. According to this GAO study, the college personnel at schools owned by Education Management Corp. may have encouraged applicants to falsify their financial aid forms to qualify for federal aid and pressured applicants to sign a contract for enrollment prior to allowing them to speak to a financial advisor. Following these disclosures, so the lawsuit, shares of Lincoln Educational Services collapsed -- falling over $4.30, or 20% in a single trading day, on unusually high trading volume. Shares of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:LINC) traded recently at $11.16 per share, down from its 52weekHigh of $28.21 per share.


