Lawsuit Overview
September 20, 2012 - The court granted the stipulation for dismissal and dismissed the case with prejudice.
September 18, 2012 - Parties filed a stipulation for dismissal with prejudice requesting that the court dismiss with prejudice all claims asserted by plaintiffs.
September 14, 2012 - Parties filed a stipulation of settlement.
October 27, 2011 - The court denied in part and granted in part defendants' motions to dismiss.
August 5, 2011 - Defendants filed motions to dismiss.
June 22, 2011 - The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on behalf of investors who purchased China Agritech Inc (NASDAQ: CAGC) common shares between November 12, 2009 and March 11, 2011. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants violated the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing false and misleading statements between November 12, 2009 and March 11, 2011.
May 16, 2011 - The court denied the pending motions for consolidation and appointment of lead plaintiff and lead counsel.
April 12, 2011 - Lead plaintiff motions were filed.
February 11, 2011 - An investor in shares of China Agritech Inc (NASDAQ: CAGC now trading on the OTC sheets as CAGC) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against China Agritech Inc over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws.
According to the class action complaint the plaintiff alleges that China Agritech Inc violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing between from February 8, 2010 and February 3, 2011 materially false and misleading financial statements.
Particularly, the plaintiff claims that on or about February 3, 2011, analyst firm LM Research issued a report alleging, among other things, that China Agritech Inc’s statement of revenue and earnings for the fiscal year 2009 are materially false and misleading. While China Agritech Inc reported an increase in its 12months Total Revenue from $29.53million in 2006 to $76.13million in 2009, its Net Income insignificantly rose from $5.35million in 2006 to $5.69million in 2009. For the first three quarters in 2010 China Agritech Inc reported a combined nine months Total Revenue of $78.07, thus exceeding with a nine months Total Revenue its 2009 12months Total Revenue. Its combined nine months Net Income rose to $13.62million, thus again exceeding its 12months result from 2009 with a nine months result in 2010.
Shares of China Agritech Inc (NASDAQ: CAGC) increased from $6.71 per share in October 2009 to $18.43 per share in January 2010. China Agritech Inc shares split 2:1 on February 8, 2010 and then increased to $30 in March 2010. CAGC shares fell to under $10 on February 3, 2011 after analyst firm LM Research issued the report alleging, among other things, that the China Agritech Inc’s statement of revenue and earnings for the fiscal year 2009 are materially false and misleading and that the “China Agritech does not have a currently functioning business generating anything close to $100 million in revenue” and that they “are very confident that the company is a scam.” The Report, citing sources, claims that China Agritech Inc’s U.S. financial statements were materially different than the financial statements filed with Chinese authorities by a number of China Agritech Inc’s subsidiaries. The report claims that the revenue reported in the China Agritech Inc’s SEC filings for 2009 is ten times larger than what the Chinese regulatory reports show. The LM Research report also noted a number of potential red flags of fraud within China Agritech Inc.
The plaintiff alleges that when these disclosures of potential fraud concerning China Agritech Inc were revealed to the market, the price of China Agritech Inc stock dropped, damaging investors.
On Feb 4, 2011 China Agritech Inc (NASDAQ: CAGC) issued a press release denying the allegations, but CGAC shares traded during Friday as low as $9.45 per share.