FROM 1998

Crystallex International Corporation Conclusion: According to the docket posted, on November 16, 1998, a Consolidated Class Action Complaint was field, and on December 29, 1998, the defendants responded by filing a motion to dismiss the complaint. On October 5, 1999, the Court entered the Memorandum Opinion and Order #82936, signed by U.S. District Judge John S. Martin dismissing the case. Judgment was entered on October 7, 1999, and the case was closed. On October 20, 1999, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal which was later withdrawn from the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The original complaint alleges that Crystallex and its chief executive officer violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making a series of false and misleading statements concerning Crystallex's interest in two gold mining concessions, the Las Cristinas 4 & 6 concessions, in Kilometer 88, Venezuela. These concessions are reported to contain 11.8 million ounces of gold, making it the largest gold deposit in Venezuela, the complaint alleges. In particular, it is alleged that defendants claimed that Crystallex had acquired the rights to the Las Cristinas concessions, when in fact it had not. The company further claimed, it is alleged, that the rights of its rival, Placer Dome, a multinational mining company, to explore these concessions, received pursuant to a joint venture agreement with Corporacion Venezolana de Guyana, a Venezuelan company owned and operated by the Venezuelan government, were in question because of the lack of authority of CVG to grant rights to these concessions. Throughout the class period, it is alleged, Crystallex continued to dispute the right of Placer Dome, pursuant to its joint venture agreement with CVG, to the Las Cristinas concessions and continued to claim the right to those concessions for itself. The complaint alleges that as a result of these false and misleading statements the price of Crystallex common stock was artificially inflated throughout the class period causing plaintiff and the other members of the class to suffer damages.

http://securities.stanford.edu/1004/...