July 17, 2020 - An amended complaint was filed.

May 12, 2020 - The case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

February 28, 2020 - An investor in shares of Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Aaron’s, Inc. in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between March 2, 2018, and February 19, 2020.

Atlanta, GA based Aaron's, Inc. operates as an omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions to underserved and credit-challenged customers.

On July 26, 2018, during after-market hours, Aaron’s filed a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reporting the Company’s financial and operating results for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018. That Quarterly Report disclosed that, in July 2018, Aaron’s received civil investigative demands (“CIDs”) from the FTC requesting the production of documents and answers to written questions to determine whether disclosures related to financial products offered by the Company through its AB and Progressive segments were in violation of the FTC Act.
On April 25, 2019, during pre-market hours, Aaron’s filed another Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q with the SEC, reporting the Company’s financial and operating results for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2019. That Quarterly Report disclosed that, in April 2019, Aaron’s AB segment “received an unrelated CID from the FTC focused on certain transactions involving the purchase and sale of customer lease agreements, and whether such transactions violated the FTC Act.”

On February 20, 2020, Aaron's, Inc. announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2019. Aaron's, Inc. reported that its Total Revenue rose from over $3.82 billion in 2018 to over $3.94 billion in 2019 and that its Net Income declined from $196.21 million in 2018 to $31.47 million in 2019. Among other results, Aaron's, Inc. reported that the Company's Progressive Leasing ( Progressive ) segment had reached an agreement in principle with Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) staff regarding a Civil Investigative Demand from the FTC that Progressive received in July 2018. Aaron's, Inc. advised investors that [u]nder the proposed agreement, which requires final approval by FTC Commissioners and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Progressive will make a payment of $175 million and enhance certain compliance-related activities, including monitoring, disclosure and reporting requirements.

Shares of Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN) declined from $64.11 per share on January 29, 2020 to as low as $38.20 per share on February 28, 2020.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN) common shares between March 2, 2018, and February 19, 2020, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between March 2, 2018, and February 19, 2020, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that Aaron’s had inadequate disclosure controls, procedures, and compliance measures, that, consequently, the operations of Aaron’s Progressive and AB segments were in violation of the FTC Act and/or relevant FTC regulations, that, consequently, Aaron’s earnings from those segments were partially derived from unlawful business practices and were thus unsustainable, that the full extent of Aaron’s liability regarding the FTC’s investigation into its Progressive and AB segments, Aaron’s noncompliance with the FTC Act, and the likely negative consequences of all the foregoing on the Company’s financial results, and that, as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.