Pensioners withdraw lawsuit against IBM over China sales
A pension and relief fund that sued IBM for failing to warn investors of loss of business in China because of its alleged involvement with spying by the U.S. National Security Agency has voluntarily withdrawn the lawsuit in a New York court.
The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund has decided to voluntarily dismiss the action after additional investigation into the matters alleged, which included investigations in the U.S. and China and discussions with the defense counsel, John C. Browne, lawyer for the fund, wrote to the court in a letter disclosed Monday.
“We said the complaint proceeded to make numerous specious and false accusations, and IBM called upon the law firm that filed this action to do the right thing and dismiss it. We are pleased that they have done the right thing,” IBM spokesman Doug Shelton wrote in an emailed statement. In a December lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund claimed that IBM failed to inform investors that sales in China would slow after disclosures that IBM was allegedly cooperating with a NSA spying program.
