Securities Fraud

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Today, Judge Engelmayer dismissed with prejudice a putative securities class action filed against DraftKings, Inc., and denied Plaintiffs’ leave to replead. Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint alleged that a company that DraftKings had acquired in the course of going public, SBTech (Global) Limited (“SBTech”), had secretly operated in “black-market” jurisdictions, thereby exposing DraftKings to regulatory and criminal risks. It further alleged that DraftKings made materially false and misleading statements about, and failed to disclose, SBTech’s violations of foreign law and their potential consequences.

Plaintiffs argued that DraftKings’s shares traded at artificially inflated prices until June 15, 2021, when a short seller, Hindenburg Research published a report that revealed SBTech’s ostensible operations in black market jurisdictions and the risks to which the merger with SBTech allegedly exposed DraftKings. That day, DraftKings’s shares fell 4.17%.

In dismissing the Second Amended Complaint, the Court focused on Plaintiffs’ reliance on the Hindenburg report without having verified the information contained in the report:Continue Reading Judge Engelmayer Dismisses Putative Securities Class Action Because Allegations Were Based On Unconfirmed Allegations in Short Seller’s Report

In a detailed 74-page opinion yesterday, Judge Failla dismissed a securities fraud complaint against Chipotle arising from its alleged failure to properly disclose to investors various matters relating to the food-borne illness outbreaks that caused its stock to drop.  She had dismissed an earlier version of the complaint last year, as we covered here.

Judge Failla ruled (among other things) that generalized statements in Chipotle’s filings about its commitment to food safety could not be the basis for fraud:
Continue Reading Judge Failla Again Dismisses Securities Fraud Case Over Food-Borne Illness Outbreaks at Chipotle

This week, Judge Failla dismissed a putative class action stemming from the 2015 food-borne illness outbreak among Chipotle customers.  According to the complaint, at least seven E. coli outbreaks at Chipotle restaurants in 2015 were caused by Chipotle’s switch from processing produce at a central facility to processing produce in each of its 1,900 restaurants.  The complaint alleged that Chipotle and its executives failed to disclose the change in produce processing and the resulting increase in the risk of food-borne illness outbreaks.

Judge Failla found that these statements were not actionable:

Continue Reading Judge Failla Dismisses Chipotle E. coli Class Action

In a brief order today, Judge Scheindlin denied a request by French conglomerate Vivendi to file, in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Halliburton II case, a new Rule 50(b) motion three years after its initial post-trial motion was denied. As Judge Scheindlin explained:

In the Supreme Court’s own words, it granted certiorari in Halliburton II to address two issues: (1) “to resolve a conflict among the Circuits over whether securities fraud defendants may attempt to rebut the Basic [Inc. v. Levinson] presumption at the class certification stage with evidence of a lack of price impact”; and (2) “to reconsider the presumption of reliance for securities fraud claims that [the Supreme Court] adopted in Basic.“ The Court said yes to the first question and no to the second.

Vivendi had argued that Halliburton II created new law under Rule 10b-5, requiring a plaintiff to prove that a misleading statement had an impact on the price of a security. But, Judge Scheindlin ruled, that has always been the rule, and was the rule when Vivendi’s prior Rule 50(b) motion had been denied. Halliburton II merely requires that “[d]efendants must be afforded an opportunity before class certification to defeat the [Basic]presumption through evidence that an alleged misrepresentation did no actually affect the market price of the stock.”
Continue Reading Judge Scheindlin: Supreme Court’s Halliburton Decision Did Not Change Plaintiff’s Burden of Proving “Price Impact” in Securities Fraud Case

In an opinion today, Judge Marrero denied SAC Capital’s motion to dismiss a class action brought by investors in Wyeth and Elan stock who traded contemporaneously with trades that SAC allegedly made based on inside information. SAC argued (among other things) that it already disgorged to the SEC an amount larger than the amount sought in the complaint for some of the claims, but Judge Marrero found that the precise amount of any offset would have to be determined in discovery:
Continue Reading Judge Marrero Rejects SAC’s Argument that SEC Disgorgement Amount Fully Covered Investor Damages

In an opinion dated Friday, Judge Cote granted partial summary judgment to the FHFA (the conservator for the two Government-Sponsored Enterprises, or “GSEs,” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), dismissing various banks’ affirmative defense that the GSEs had knowledge that the mortgage securities at issue were defective. The essence of her ruling was that, while the GSEs may have had generalized knowledge of problems with mortgage origination, there was no evidence that they had specific knowledge that the representations at issue were false:
Continue Reading Judge Cote Rejects, As a Matter of Law, Banks’ Defense That FHFA Knew Mortgage Securities Were Defective

In an opinion issued today, Judge Ramos dismissed securities fraud and related claims brought against Deloitte & Touche for its part in allegedly fraudulent financial statements and other SEC filings by ChinaCast Education, a Chinese company that traded on the NASDAQ from 2006 to 2012.  Deloitte was ChinaCast’s auditor, and the plaintiffs were investors in the company, including current management, who claimed to have uncovered misdeeds by ChinaCast’s prior management. Judge Ramos described the plaintiffs’ claims:

At bottom, Plaintiffs contend that, had the Deloitte Defendants performed any audit at all, they would have discovered the rampant fraud at ChinaCast much earlier. The FAC describes a number of failures to comply with PCAOB and GAAP standards, as well as “red flags” that should have placed the Deloitte Defendants on notice of the fraud. Consequently, Plaintiffs assert that DTTC’s statements for the years 2007 through 2010, that it conducted its audits in accordance with PCAOB standards and that ChinaCast’s audited financial statements were GAAP compliant, and for the years 2008 and 2009, that the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting were effective, were materially false.

Continue Reading Judge Ramos: Securities Fraud Suit Against Deloitte Dismissed, but Plaintiffs May Replead

In an opinion yesterday, Judge Forrest denied a motion to dismiss by the investment bank Macquarie, which argued (see here and here) that, based on Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, 131 S. Ct. 2296 (June 13, 2011), the allegedly false prospectus at issue was “made” by the issuer (a company called Puda Coal), not the underwriter (Macquarie).  There a few lower court decisions on this issue, but Judge Forrest found that Janus did not bar the plaintiffs’ claims here:
Continue Reading Judge Forrest Interprets Janus to Allow Underwriter, Not Just Issuer, to Face Claims for Allegedly False Prospectus

As we reported in May, Judge Swain precluded the trial testimony of the plaintiffs’ loss causation and damages expert in a shareholder class action accusing Pfizer of concealing the cardiovascular risks of two drugs, Celebrex and Bextra.  At the time we wrote:  “Without a damages expert, it is unclear how the plaintiffs can prove their case at trial, which is currently scheduled for September.” The answer, based on an Order yesterday, is that the plaintiffs will not be able to prove their case.  Judge Swain dismissed the case altogether, writing:  “To prevail on a securities fraud claim under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Plaintiffs must prove loss causation and damages. See, e.g., Stoneridge Inv. Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 552 U.S. 148, 157 (2007); 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(b)(4). Without a loss causation expert, Plaintiffs cannot prove either.” She rejected the plaintiffs’ attempt to update the expert’s report to fix the issued she identified earlier:
Continue Reading Following Preclusion of Plaintiffs’ Expert, Judge Swain Dismisses Pfizer Shareholder Class Action