Sjunde AP-Fonden (AP7), a fund in Sweden’s premium pension system, and Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension & Relief Fund have been appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to serve as co-lead plaintiffs in the pending securities class action alleging that Luckin Coffee Inc. fabricated hundreds of millions of dollars of sales. AP7 is represented by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, co-lead counsel in the class action.
对Luckin Coffee的班级行动涉及涉及中国公司对美国股市交易的证券欺诈案件之一。2020年代后期，卖空泥泞的水域研究发表了一个89页的报告，指称洛林于2019年制造了某些金融人物。该报告基于审查超过11,000小时的商店视频，超过25,000个客户收据亚慱体育app，和the Company’s mobile application data, and alleges that Luckin Coffee inflated per-store, per-day sales figures, net selling price per-item metrics, its advertising expenses, and certain revenue metrics.
Luckin Coffee驳回了泥泞的水域报告，因为含有“误导和虚假指控”。However, on April 2, 2020, the coffeehouse chain admitted that an internal investigation had preliminarily determined that Jian Liu, the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, and several employees reporting to him, had fabricated approximately RMB2.2 billion (more than $300 million) in sales during Q2, Q3, and Q4 2019 – accounting for nearly half of Luckin’s revenues during that time period. After trading above $50 per share in mid-January 2020, Luckin Coffee stock now trades below $4 per share. Before the truth emerged, Luckin raised more than $1 billion from investors when it completed its IPO in 2019, and a secondary public offering in January 2020. The offerings were underwritten by several notable banks including, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley.
争先恐后的原告
The allegations and Luckin’s admissions have triggered significant interest from the financial press as well as investors seeking to lead the class action lawsuit in the U.S. Following Luckin Coffee’s spectacular collapse in April 2020, 18 movants filed motions seeking to lead the action – no other case filed this year has resulted in more leadership applications. The movants claimed losses ranging from $19 million to $5,000, with AP7 and Louisiana Sheriffs claiming a combined loss of nearly $7 million, third among the movants. While the movant asserting the largest loss is typically appointed as the lead plaintiff, AP7’s investigation uncovered serious concerns with the two movants asserting larger losses. In addition to flagging these concerns, AP7 successfully fended off challenges to its own appointment.
Specifically, competing movants argued that: (1) AP7, as a non-U.S. asset manager, lacked standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to assert claims in connection with purchases by its equity fund, and (2) AP7 was an atypical lead plaintiff because AP7’s status as a Swedish pension fund posed ares judicata.瑞典法院无法认识到美国法院在这种情况下发出的任何判决的风险。
曲线变稠
虽然AP7和Louisiana警长在法院前没有主张移动者的最大损失，但他们对争夺更大的损失的两个竞争移动者的调查 - Chesi Group2和劳保投资者Group3 - 揭示了呼吁质疑其有效代表的能力的严重缺陷类。任命不合格的铅原告可能会危及所有班级成员的索赔，因为法院可以拒绝阶级认证（并可能终止所有索赔）如果被认为是不充分的。诚实，可信度和积极领导案件的能力是法院使用的众多标准，以评估充足性。
作为一个最初的事情，AP7和路易斯安那州警长确定了Chesi集团的一个主要成员 - 声称遭遇最大的损失 - 以前对马来西亚的证券欺诈行为犯有罪。在AP7和路易斯安那州警长提出了对允许承认的欺诈者代表课程的担忧后，法院要求Chesi集团有关认罪的额外资料。Chesi Group而不是提供文档，而不是提供文档。
AP7和路易斯安那州警长还提出了对包括洛林投资者集团的五个不相关投资者充分监督律师的能力的担忧，并热闹地代表课程。事实上，与AP7和路易斯安那州警长不同，劳保人投资者组织由独立投资者组成，该投资者没有诉讼，没有诉讼联邦证券声称，未能提供任何证据制定诉讼的管理议定书。AP7和路易斯安那州警长进一步指出，劳保人投资者集团愿意支持委任Chesi集团（而不是反对Chesi Group的议案）的代表性不足。
鉴于这些事实，AP7和路易斯安那州警长认为，他们是迈出了诉讼，对诉讼和满足私人证券诉讼改革法（PSLRA）充足性和典型程度的最大财务兴趣。
法院的意见
在任命AP7和Louisiana警长作为领先原告时，法院拒绝了站立和res judicata.对AP7提出的挑战并得出结论，AP7和路易斯安那警长满足了PSLRA最大的财务利益，充足性和典型程度要求。拒绝争论挑战AP7的立场，法院专门注意到AP7最近的约会Ocwen，Goldman Sachs，和通用电气，在法院得出结论的地方，关于AP7的立场的担忧没有基于证据。
批判性地，法院回应了决心高盛移动“违反AP7的任命没有确定一个案例，其中AP7的常产是被告成功地挑战的，并且得出结论，竞争的移动者没有提出证据，证据证明AP7缺乏站立。
同样，法院确定它没有找到res judicata.争论说服力。具体而言，议会。刘易斯J. Liman解释说res judicata.担心“不是关于铅原告的选择的问题，因为这些人会明确受法院判决的束缚，”并承认“法院经常指定外国投资者作为领导原告”，“外国领导原告”负责许多大型证券课程行动。“
此外，法院共享AP7和路易斯安那警长的担忧，劳保人投资者集团不会充分代表课程。作为一个门槛问题，法院得出结论认为，洛林投资者集团是“一个随机的大会”，“没有提供证据，即本集团的任何成员 - 整个集团的小组 - 已经大大参与诉讼，“鉴于其成员位于格鲁吉亚，多伦多，英国，沙特阿拉伯和中国，”委员会成员不提供彼此互相沟通计划“众议院，并”众多理由相信成员同意to be assembled by counsel and to ratify counsel’s representation of them – rather than that they gathered together and engaged in a truly independent selection of counsel.”
相比之下，法院得出结论，AP7和路易斯安那州警长是由担任信徒的机构原告，并在340亿美元的管理层中汇总资产以及在PSLRA下的牵头原告集团中成功服务的赛道记录，“这是”他们的合并经验和资源对集团成员提供了一些信心，以适当监督律师并防止律师驱动的诉讼，“这两位议员和其所选律师带来了长期律师 - 客户关系的救济，其中包括，除其他外，信任，有效的沟通和成本效益。“
Luckin Coffee增加了成长的案例法，认识到非美国。等资产管理人员，如AP7，是证券课程行动中的合适原告代表。此外，该案例还说明了对铅原告移动者的需要，以积极审查竞争移动者，以确保其和班级的索赔不会被任命为不合格的移动。