Lawsuit Overview
March 25, 2019 - The court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss.
October 15, 2018 - A motion to dismiss the amended complaint was filed.
August 6, 2018 - An amended complaint was filed.
March 5, 2018 - An investor in shares of Grupo Televisa SAB (ADR) (NYSE: TV) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Grupo Televisa SAB in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between April 11, 2013 and January 25, 2018.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Grupo Televisa SAB (ADR) (NYSE: TV) common shares between April 11, 2013 and January 25, 2018, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between April 11, 2013 and January 25, 2018, the defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that Grupo Televisa SAB executives engaged in an unlawful bribery scheme involving Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”) executives, that discovery of the foregoing conduct would likely subject Grupo Televisa SAB to heightened regulatory scrutiny, and that Grupo Televisa SAB lacked effective internal controls over financial reporting.
On November 14, 2017, news outlets reported that a former executive of the sports-marketing company Torneos y Competencias SA testified during the corruption trial of three former FIFA officials that several companies, including Grupo Televisa SAB, paid bribes to win lucrative, multiyear broadcasting rights for tournaments.
On January 26, 2018, Grupo Televisa SAB announced that the Company's management, in consultation with the Audit Committee of the Company's board and after discussions with PricewaterhouseCoopers, S.C. ( PwC ), the Company's independent registered public accounting firm, has concluded that certain material weaknesses in the Company's internal control over financial reporting existed as of December 31, 2016.
Specifically, Grupo Televisa SAB advised investors that [t]he material weaknesses in the Company's internal control over financial reporting related to (1) the design and maintenance of effective controls over certain information technology controls which support systems that are relevant to the provisioning, updating and deleting of users' access to those systems, the periodic review of users' access to these systems, developers' access to certain of these systems and appropriate segregation of duties; (2) the design and maintenance of effective controls over segregation of duties within the accounting system, including certain individuals with the ability to gain access to prepare and post journal entries across substantially all key accounts of the Company without an independent review performed by someone other than the preparer; and (3) ineffective controls with respect to the accounting for certain revenue and related accounts receivable in our cable companies and content division.