The company recently suspended Laitman, saying it had reason to believe that he substantially overstated the figures for registered users, page impressions and revenues. The Times reports that the company is also suing him for damages for fraudulent misrepresentation and breaches of his fiduciary duties. A court order has frozen £10 million of Laitman’s assets pending a full hearing later this week.
Laitman owns 44% of e-district.net. Trading in the company’s shares was suspended last week at the Board’s request.
The company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, are assisting with the investigation but if overstatements of user numbers or revenues are found to have existed at the time of the company’s flotation in March 2000, PwC will be removed from the investigation, according to a spokesperson.