KV shareholder alleges execs backdated options - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The lawsuit states that seven company officials, including Vice Chairman and CEO Marc Hermelinn andhis father, company founder and Chairman Victore Hermelin, violated shareholder-approved stock option plans and filed false annuapl reports with the Securitieas and Exchange Commission to hide their The plaintiff in the lawsuit is listef as Frederick Fuhrman. No other informationn is availableabout Fuhrman. "Inj a striking pattern that could not have been the resulftof chance, each and every one of the foregoing stock option grants was datedf just before a substantial rise in KV Pharmaceutical'd stock price," Fuhrman's suit A Radnor, Pa.
, law firm that handles derivative actions hired someone to review companies in the wake of the ongoinh backdating scandal and found KV in that said Eric Zagar, an attorney at the firm who is representinhg Fuhrman. KV didn't returjn calls for comment. Directors named in the suit are: Geralx Mitchell, who is also vice president and chieffinanciapl officer; Norman Schellenger, a membetr of the board's audit committee, a former member of its stoclk option committee and senior vice presideng of sales at Montgomery, Ala.-based ; and Kevinb Carlie, also a member of the audit committeew and president of , a St. Louis-bases management services company.
The othe r two defendants are Raymondr Chiostri, chairman and chief executive of KVsubsidiarh , and Mitchell who was vice president of new business development at KV untilk January. He is Victor Hermelin's son-in-law. Fuhrman filefd the 17-page suit in St. Louies Circuit Court in September. He is also representeed by Dale Weppner and Jeffrey Schmittg of in Clayton and Sandra Smithg ofof Radnor, Pa. For the year ended March 31, KV's profit dropped 52.6 perceny on a sales climb of 21 percent attributed to higher sales inthe company's brandedx marketing operations, Ther-Rx Corp. Profit for fiscal 2006 fell to $15.8 millionj on sales of $367.6 million, compared with profitr of $33.
3 million on sales of $303.5 millionh in fiscal 2005. In September, the company announcedr that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had granted its approvakl to market six strengths of the blood pressure medicinse Diltiazem HCl ERin capsules. The drug is prescribede to treat hypertension and chest KV at aglance $367.6 million in fiscal 2006 revenue