Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP Announces Class Action Suit Against OfficeMax Inc

Business Wire, Jan 14, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP ("Lerach Coughlin") (http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/officemaxinc/) today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of purchasers of OfficeMax Inc. ("OfficeMax") (NYSE:OMX) publicly traded securities during the period between November 9, 2004 and January 11, 2005 (the "Class Period").

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, William Lerach or Darren Robbins of Lerach Coughlin at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at wsl@lerachlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/officemaxinc/. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges OfficeMax and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. OfficeMax, formerly Boise Cascade Corporation, is a multinational contract and retail distributor of office supplies and paper, technology products and office furniture.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements regarding the Company's earnings. The true facts, which were known by each of the defendants but concealed from the investing public during the Class Period, were as follows: (a) that for a period of at least two years, millions of dollars worth of the Company's sales were fraudulently booked as legitimate sales; (b) that the Company was using (and manipulating its use of) "vendor allowances" (monies paid by suppliers for promotions, prime shelf space, discounts and rebates) in order to manipulate the Company's earnings and timing of revenue recognition; (c) that the Company's Q4 2004 results and those beyond were being eroded by the Company's internal investigation costs and the halting of the Company's abusive vendor allowance scheme; (d) that the Company lacked the necessary internal controls to insure all revenue reported complied with generally accepted accounting principles; and (e) that the Company had entered into a long term-paper supply contract with Boise Cascade, LLC, which, unbeknownst to investors, was not commensurate with the market rate. As a result of defendants' false statements, OfficeMax shares traded at inflated levels during the Class Period, increasing to as high as $32.52 on December 16, 2004, whereby the Company's top officers and directors arranged to sell nearly $1.5 billion worth of the Company's notes.

On January 12, 2005, OfficeMax announced that its chief financial officer had resigned and that it would postpone the release of its earnings for the fourth quarter and full year 2004, pending the conclusion of an internal investigation into issues relating to its accounting for vendor income.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of OfficeMax publicly traded securities during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Lerach Coughlin, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.

Lerach Coughlin, a 140-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations. Lerach Coughlin lawyers have been responsible for more than $20 billion in aggregate recoveries. The Lerach Coughlin Web site (http://www.lerachlaw.com) has more information about the firm.