Lawsuit Accuses A&P Executives Of Fraud

Attorneys representing investors who bought stock in Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. during the 18 months before the struggling supermarket chain filed for bankruptcy have filed a class-action suit, saying that Chief Executive Officer Sam Martin and five other executives misled investors about the financial health of the company.

The law firm representing investors said it filed the lawsuit against former and current executives, rather than the Montvale-based company, because Great Atlantic, parent of the A&P chain, is under bankruptcy protection.

The suit says that Martin, along with Christian Haub, chairman of the board of the parent company, and other executives "deceived the investing public regarding A&P's business, operations, management and the intrinsic value of A&P securities." The alleged fraud allowed A&P executives to artificially inflate the value of the company's stock and to sell more than $430 million of debt on favorable terms, the complaint states.

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