Webster relayed the disturbing revelations to Livent’s board. On August 11, 1998,Roy Furman issued a press release announcing that “significant financial irregularities” adversely affecting Livent’s financial statements for the past three years had been discovered. The press release also indicated that Drabinsky and Gottlieb had been indefinitely suspended pending the outcome of a forensic investigation by KPMG. During the fall of 1998, company officials issued successive press releases suggesting that the impact of the accounting irregularities would be more severe than initially thought. Adding to Livent’s problems was the suspension of all trading in the company’s stock and a series of large class-action lawsuits filed against the company and its officers. In August 1998 alone , 12 such lawsuits were filed.