Charming Shoppes files SEC violations suit

BENSALEM, Pa. Charming Shoppes today reported that it filed a lawsuit against the Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners hedge funds, operating jointly under the name of The Charming Shoppes Full Value Committee, and certain of their principals and nominees for election as directors of Charming Shoppes, including Arnaud Ajdler, Eric Rosenfeld and Robert Frankfurt, for violating federal securities laws.

Charming Shoppes claimed that the documents Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners filed with the SEC were misleading, incomplete and violated Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as part of their campaign to nominate three directors to Charming Shoppes' board of directors.

In the aforementioned SEC filing, The Charming Shoppes Full Value Committee called the company's stock performance "disastrous," its operating performance "subpar" and its management compensation "excessive."

"We filed this suit against Arnaud Ajdler, Eric Rosenfeld, Robert Frankfurt and the Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners hedge funds to ensure that our shareholders receive complete and accurate information about the group's interests, plans and motivations that is required by the federal securities laws," said Dorrit Bern, chairman, ceo and president of Charming Shoppes. "We will continue to take appropriate steps to protect the interests of Charming Shoppes' shareholders."

In its complaint against the Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners hedge funds, Charming Shoppes said that the two parties "have depicted themselves to the investing public as legitimate investors and 'would-be' directors, when in truth their intention is to achieve personal gain at the expense of Charming Shoppes and its shareholders. At no time have defendants disclosed any part of their true track record of using proxy fights to disrupt corporations and to profit by forcing them to sell assets, buy back stock or buy off defendants and their cronies."