Securities Class Action Initiated Against CenturyLink

WASHINGTON, DC (July 18, 2017) — U.S. Market Advisors Law Group PLLC announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against CenturyLink, Inc. (“CenturyLink” or the “Company”) (NYSE:CTL) and certain of its senior executives.  The class action is on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired CenturyLink stock, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants’ violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The case has been docketed under 17-cv-04740 in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

If you are a shareholder who purchased CenturyLink stock between March 1, 2013 – June 16, 2017 (“Class Period”), you have until August 21, 2017 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class.  The Lead Plaintiff is a representative for absent members of the class.

Investors do not need to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff to share in any class recovery in this action.  If you are a class member and there is a recovery for the class, you can share in that recovery as an absent class member.  You may retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this action. Contact USMA Law Group to discuss this action.

CenturyLink is an integrated communications company engaged primarily in providing an array of services to residential and business customers. Its communications services include local and long-distance voice, broadband, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (“MPLS”), private line (including special access), Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), data integration, video, network, public access, Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”), information technology and other ancillary services.

Allegations Against CenturyLink
Throughout the Class Period, Defendants failed to disclose that: (1) CenturyLink policies’ had engaged the Company in unlawful business practices by allowing its employees to add services or lines to accounts without customer permission, resulting in millions of dollars in unauthorized charges to CenturyLink customers; (2) accordingly, the Company’s revenues contained ill-gotten gains that originated from the Company’s illicit conduct and were unsustainable; and (3) the foregoing illicit conduct was likely to subject CenturyLink to heightened regulatory scrutiny; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ statements about CenturyLink’s business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

The Truth is Revealed
On June 16, 2017, reporters Polly Mosendz and Scott Moritz from Bloomberg wrote an article entitled “CenturyLink Is Accused of Running a Wells Fargo-Like Scheme.” The article described Defendant CenturyLink’s unlawful business practices, stating in relevant part:

A former CenturyLink Inc. employee claims she was fired for blowing the whistle on the telecommunications company’s high-pressure sales culture that left customers paying millions of dollars for accounts they didn’t request, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Arizona state superior court.

As the truth was fully revealed to investors, the Company’s share price declined $1.23 per share from $26.95 per share of CenturyLink stock on June 15, 2017, to close at $25.72 per share on June 16, 2017, a drop of approximately 4.5%.

On June 19, 2017, the Bloomberg reporters wrote a second article “CenturyLink Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Seeking Up to $12 Billion.” The article stated in relevant part:

The new lawsuit, filed in the central district of California late Sunday night, cites Heiser’s suit, as well as similar accusations posted on social media and consumer review websites by people identifying themselves as CenturyLink customers, and accuses CenturyLink of fraud, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment.

“Ms. Heiser’s allegations of what she observed, and what CenturyLink corporate culture encouraged, are consistent with the experiences of hundreds of thousands and potentially millions of consumers who have been defrauded by CenturyLink,” the complaint states. “It is estimated that the damages to consumers could range between $600 million and $12 billion, based on CenturyLink’s 5.9 million subscribers.”

About USMA
U.S. Market Advisors Law Group PLLC is a national law firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm represents investors worldwide in U.S. securities class action lawsuits.

Contact
David P. Abel
(202) 274-0237
[email protected]