According to the Complaint, Sonder Holdings Inc. engages in hospitality services. It operates and manages various accommodations that are suitable for one night and extended stays. The Complaint alleges that Defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Sonder failed to disclose all issues with its internal controls; (2) Sonder’s financial statements for the 2022 Annual Report and the interim periods ended March 31, June 30, and September 30, 2023 contained material errors in the way Sonder accounted for the valuation and impairment of operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets; (3) as a result, Sonder would need to restate its previously issued financial statements for those periods; and (4) as a result, Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Recent Security Class Actions
According to the Complaint, Ocugen Inc. is a biotechnology company.After market hours on April 1, 2024, the Company filed with the SEC a Notification of Late Filing on Form 12b-25, stating that "in connection with the preparation of the financial statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company identified certain accounting errors relating to the application of U.S. GAAP to certain agreements with one of its business partners related to a collaboration agreement. As a result, the Company intends to restate its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for each of the first three quarters of 2022 and 2023 in the 2023 Form 10-K, the review and preparation of which is currently ongoing."The Complaint alleges that Defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Ocugen’s financial statements from May 8, 2020 to the present were materially misstated; (2) Ocugen did not have adequate internal controls; and (3) as a result, Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all times.
According to the Complaint, Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage immunotherapy and targeted oncology company that focuses on the acquisition, development, and commercialization of novel treatments for patients with solid tumor cancers in the U.S. and internationally. Checkpoint’s lead antibody product candidate is cosibelimab for the treatment of selected recurrent or metastatic cancers, including metastatic cSCC and locally advanced cSCC. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, the Complaint alleges Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Checkpoint had overstated its oversight of, and/or its establishment of adequate manufacturing standards and controls over, its third-party contract manufacturers; (ii) accordingly, there were one or more issues with the Company’s third-party contract manufacturing organization (“CMO”) for cosibelimab; (iii) all the foregoing reduced the likelihood that the FDA would approve the cosibelimab BLA in its present form; (iv) as a result, the manufacturing, regulatory, and commercial prospects of cosibelimab were overstated; and (v) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
According to the Complaint, HireRight Holdings Corporation provides technology-driven workforce risk management and compliance solutions to a customer base characterized as a “diverse set of organizations, from large-scale multinational businesses to small and medium-sized businesses, across a broad range of industries.” The Company offers background screening, verification, identification, monitoring, and drug and health screening services for customers under the HireRight brand name and boasts a purportedly “robust pipeline of opportunities developed by [its] sales team to continue to attract new customers and take share in the market.” On October 6, 2021, HireRight filed the Registration Statement on Form S-1 with the SEC in connection with the IPO, which, after an amendment, was declared effective by the SEC on October 28, 2021. On November 1, 2021, HireRight filed the Prospectus on Form 424B4 with the SEC in connection with the IPO, which incorporated and formed part of the Registration Statement. That same day, pursuant to the Offering Documents, HireRight’s common stock began publicly trading on the NYSE.The Complaint alleges that the Offering Documents were negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading and was not prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations governing its preparation. Specifically, the Complaint alleges the Offering Documents made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) HireRight was exposed to customers with significant employment and hiring risk and the Company derived greater revenue growth from existing client hiring than from new client hiring; (ii) as a result, the Company's revenue growth was unsustainable to the extent that it relied on the stability of its current customers' hiring and/or the profitability of securing new customers; (iii) accordingly, HireRight had overstated its post-IPO business and/or prospects; and (iv) as a result, Defendants' statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
According to the Complaint, Luna Innovations Incorporated is a technology company that is focused on fiber optics. It creates products targeted towards the aerospace, automotive, and communications industries, among others. The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Luna Innovations financial statements from August 10, 2023 to the present included false figures as a result of improper revenue recognition; (2) as a result, Luna Innovations would need to restate its previously filed financial statements from August 10, 2023 to November 14, 2023; (3) Luna Innovations lacked adequate internal controls; and (4) as a result, Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all times.
According to the Complaint, bluebird bio, Inc. is a biotechnology company that researches, develops, and commercializes gene therapies for severe genetic diseases.On April 24, 2023, Defendants announced submission of its Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for lovotibeglogene autotemcel (lovo-cel) gene therapy in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) ages 12 and older who have a history of vaso-occlusive events (VOEs). The BLA also included a request for priority review, which, if granted, would shorten the FDA’s review of the application to six months from the time of filing, versus a standard review timeline of 10 months. The Complaint alleges that the Company’s announcement provided investors with false and misleading information in order to bolster investor expectations and share prices. Specifically, the Complaint alleges Defendants created the false impression that: (i) they could obtain FDA approval for lovocel without any box warnings for haematological malignancies; (ii) they would be granted a priority review voucher by the FDA and in turn sell it in order to strengthen their financial position for the lovocel launch; (iii) as a result, the Company had significantly overstated Lyfgenia’s clinical and/or commercial prospects; and (iv) therefore, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times, and that as a result, Plaintiff and other shareholders purchased the Company’s securities at artificially inflated prices.
According to the Complaint, Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. describes itself as a "leader in Artificial Intelligence ("AI")- based weapons detection for security screening. Our mission is to make the world a safer and more enjoyable place to live, work, learn, and play. We are democratizing security by making it seamless for facility operators to address the chronic epidemic of escalating gun violence, mass shootings and terrorist attacks in a cost-effective manner while improving the visitor experience."
On or around July 19, 2021, Evolv went public through a SPAC merger with Newhold Investment Corp.
The Complaint alleges that Defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Evolv materially overstated the efficacy of its products; (2) the lack of effectiveness of Evolv's products with regard to detecting knives and guns led to an increased risk of undetected weapons entering locations such as schools; (3) Evolv deceived the general public, its customers, and its investors regarding the effectiveness of its products; and (4) as a result, Defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all times.
On March 22, 2024, Plug Power Inc. was sued for violations of the federal securities laws in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the Company’s securities between May 9, 2023 and January 16, 2024, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
This action stems from a proposed transaction announced on November 30, 2020, pursuant to which The Lion Electric Company would be acquired by Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. ("NGA").
NGA was formed as a special purpose acquisition company. Lion Electric markets itself as a designer, manufacturer, and direct seller of electric school buses and trucks.
On March 24, 2021, Defendants filed a proxy statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the Proposed Transaction. The Complaint alleges that the Proxy Statement omitted material information with respect to the Proposed Transaction, rendering the Proxy Statement false and misleading. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that Defendants: (i) used materially deceptive "risk factor" statements to withhold the truth about problems facing Lion Electric, including supply chain problems with its suppliers and sub-suppliers; (ii) misled NGA's stockholders about Lion Electric's prospects using grossly unrealistic financial projections; and (iii) failed to provide NGA stockholders with the "net cash" value of their shares – the key disclosure about the fundamental purchasing power their NGA shares represented.
On May 6, 2021, NGA completed the Merger with Lion Electric, which continues to operate as The Lion Electric Company. NGA survived the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lion Electric Company.
On March 22, 2024, The Lion Electric Company, Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. (“NGA”) and others were sued for violations of the federal securities laws in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with the business combination (the “Merger”) between NGA and Legacy Lion Electric, whereby NGA’s shareholders were induced to convert their shares in NGA into stock in the post-Merger Lion Electric.
