SAN DIEGO, March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder Rights Law Firm Johnson & Weaver, LLP (J&W) announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC) between October 29, 2015 and January 20, 2017, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for Banc investors under the federal securities laws.

If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than March 24, 2017. If you wish to discuss this action, have any questions concerning this notice, or your rights or interests, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ([email protected]) at 619-814-4471. If you email, please include your phone number. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges Banc and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  Banc is a financial holding company with operations in commercial, mortgage and corporate banking and financial advisory.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants violated the federal securities laws by disseminating false and misleading statements to the investing public.  As a result of defendants' false statements, Banc's stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of $23.12 per share on August 8, 2016.

On September 7, 2016, Bloomberg News published an article on Banc highlighting several related-party transactions, including Banc paying $100 million for the naming rights on Los Angeles's new soccer stadium for a soccer team whose investors included the brother of Banc's CEO, "marking the latest in a series of deals involving the CEO's family and associates," and stating that such "transactions, even when disclosed, should serve as warning signs for investors when deciding whether to buy stock."  Within a week of this article, Banc's stock price fell to below $21 per share.  On September 20, 2016, Banc announced that its CFO had resigned after only a year on the job.  On this news, Banc's stock price fell again, declining from $20.51 per share to $17.61 per share within a week.

On October 18, 2016, an article was published by Seeking Alpha that highlighted Banc's ties to alleged fraudsters.  The article stated that Seeking Alpha had "conducted exhaustive due diligence into [Banc's] leadership team" and had established that Banc's "senior-most officers and board members have a broad mosaic of extensive and indisputable ties to Jason Galanis."  According to Seeking Alpha, "[t]he mere presence of a bank leadership team associated with Galanis should send diligent investors running for the hills."  On this news, the price of Banc stock fell $4.61 per share, or 29%, on October 18, 2016, to close at $11.26 per share.  In response to the Seeking Alpha article, on October 18, 2016, Banc issued a press release announcing that the Company was aware of the Seeking Alpha allegations and that the Board of Directors had initiated a "thorough" and "independent" investigation through "Disinterested Directors."

Then, on January 23, 2017, Banc issued a press release announcing the resignation of its CEO and Chairman of the Board, Steven A. Sugarman, and revealed that the SEC had opened a formal order of investigation directed at certain of the issues that Banc's Special Committee was reviewing concerning the Company's response to the October 18, 2016, Seeking Alpha article in which Banc had mischaracterized the investigation into Seeking Alpha's allegations.  As a result of this news, the price of Banc stock dropped $1.50 per share to close at $14.65 per share on January 23, 2017, a decline of 9%.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Banc's common stock during the Class Period. 

About Johnson & Weaver, LLP:
Johnson & Weaver, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://www.johnsonandweaver.com. Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Contact:
Johnson & Weaver, LLP
Jim Baker, 619-814-4471
[email protected]

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SOURCE Johnson & Weaver, LLP