NEW YORK – Identity-theft protection company LifeLock Inc. lost half its stock value Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission accused it of making deceptive claims.
The Tempe, Arizona-based company saw its shares fall $7.91, or 49.3 percent, to close at $8.15. It had fallen to $7.70 at one point in trading Tuesday, marking its lowest point in about five years.
The FTC said LifeLock violated a 2010 settlement with the agency and 35 states by continuing to make deceptive claims about its services and failing to take steps to protect users' data. The FTC has asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona to impose an order requiring the company to provide redress to consumers.
In the previous settlement, the FTC settlement required the company to pay $12 million in consumer refunds.
In a statement Tuesday, LifeLock disagreed with the FTC allegations and said it is prepared to take the case to court.
"After more than 18 months of cooperation and dialogue with the FTC, it became clear to us that we could not come to a satisfactory resolution of their issues outside a court of law," the company said.
