Box Ships Inc (TEUFF)

[Toxic Avenger]

I wish you luck, but I have yet to see a successful lawsuit against individuals where shareholders recovered significant monies from those individuals, let alone Greek citizens and a company based in the Marshall Islands.

While this article is about another Greek shipping stock, it does an excellent job of explaining why there's little chance of a successful lawsuit. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4120217-top-ships-dangerous-shipping-stock

I am not sure however if any lawsuit will be successful since TOPS and most of the other Greek shipping companies such as DRYS and DCIX are incorporated in the Republic of Marshall Islands. What most shareholders don't know is that rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under the laws of Marshall Islands are not clearly established like they usually are for the directors in the United States. Because of that, shareholders have more difficulties in protecting their interests when management would not act in their best interests, as the companies' actions might differ from shareholders' interests. This means that companies like TOPS, DRYS and DCIX have almost certain freedom of doing whatever they want. Apart from being called a tax haven, the US shareholder protection topic was probably the main reason for all of them to incorporate their companies in the Republic of Marshall Islands before going public in the US.

TOPS is a Greek shipping company, like DRYS and DCIX, and because of that, it is classified as a "foreign private issuer" since it is listed on the Nasdaq. Unlike US-based companies however, the company is not obligated to file quarterly reports (10-Qs) or to provide current reports (8-Ks), disclosing significant events within four days of their occurrence. In addition to that, its officers and directors, for example TOPS CEO Evangelos Pistiolis, are exempt from the reporting and "short-swing" profit recovery provisions with respect to their purchase and sale of securities. This simply means that shareholders are not necessarily provided with any information regarding insider transactions of the company. Last but not least, TOPS is also exempt from proxy rules, and the proxy statements that it distributes will not be subject to review by the SEC! Keep this in mind for the SEC subpoena outcome!