On December 18, 2007, the Honorable Susan Illston signed an Order in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California appointing James R. Bartholomew as Lead Plaintiff on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of UTStarcom, Inc. ("UTStarcom" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:  UTSI) between September 4, 2002 and July 24, 2007 inclusive (the "Class Period").  The Court appointed Finkelstein Thompson LLP as lead counsel.

The lawsuit alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants misrepresented and omitted material facts concerning the Company's backdating of stock option grants to its officers and executives.  Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that at all times during the Class period, UTStarcom represented that the exercise price of all stock options would be no less that the fair market value of the Company's common stock, measured by the publicly traded closing price for UTStarcom stock on the day of the grant. However, in reality, options granted in 2002 were backdated so their exercise price correlated to a day on or near the day UTStarcom's stock hit a significantly low price for the year, or directly in advance of sharp increases in the price of UTStarcom stock.

The truth regarding the Company's option granting practices was revealed on July 24, 2007.  On that date, UTStarcom announced that a review of the Company's historical stock option grant practices uncovered evidence that stock option grants were backdated.  As a result of these findings, the Company further announced that its previously issued financial statements for the years 2000 through 2006 should no longer be relied upon, and would be restated by at least $28 million.  In response to this news, UTStarcom's share price fell 22%, from a close of $4.73 on July 23, 2007 to a close of $3.70 on July 25, 2007.  The share price continued to decline thereafter.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of Class members and is represented by Finkelstein Thompson LLP.  Finkelstein Thompson LLP has spent almost three decades delivering outstanding representation to institutional and individual clients in connection with securities and other finance-related litigation, and has been appointed as lead or co-lead counsel in dozens of shareholder class actions.  Indeed, in the past decade, the firm has served in leadership roles in cases that have recovered over $1 billion for investors and consumers.

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