April 30, 2012 (Shareholders Foundation) -- A current investor in NYSE:WMT shares filed a lawsuit against directors and officers of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in connection with allegations of a massive bribery scheme at Wal-Mart’s largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico, and a six-year-long effort to cover up that scheme by top executives and directors of Wal-Mart, who sacrificed its purported commitment to high moral and ethical standards in order to win market dominance in Mexico.

The plaintiff alleges that defendants breached their fiduciary duties as they allegedly have recklessly disregard their duties as they should have been aware of the risk of serious injury to the company. They plaintiff says that they have greatly injured Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. by engaging in or covering up an alleged $24 million bribery campaign designed to advance Wal-Mart's expansion in Mexico and company officers and directors responsible for the wrongdoing should reimburse Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. for damages.

On Sunday, April 22, 2012, the New York Times had published an extensive article concerning potential bribes made by Walmart de Mexico beginning as early as 2005. According to the article Walmart de Mexico may have spent more than $24 million in bribes. The article further alleged that Walmart de Mexico executives knew about the payments and actively took steps to conceal them. The article stated that “in a confidential report to his superiors, Wal-Mart’s lead investigator, a former F.B.I. special agent, summed up their initial findings this way: “There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws have been violated.”

Wal-Mart Stores issued on April 21, 2012 a response to the New York times article and said that Walmart met with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to self-disclose the ongoing investigation on this matter and that they informed investors in its quarterly report filed in December of the investigation. The plaintiff says that illegal payments have and will continue to irreparably damage Wal-Mart's corporate image and goodwill and jeopardize its ability to do business in foreign countries. The plaintiff seeks to recover damages for the company's reputation as well as costs of investigating the claims.

On April 25, 2012, Mexico's federal officials said they would open an investigation into the bribery allegations.

On April 27, 2012, it was reported that a deli manager at a Walmart store has started an online petition calling for the resignations of Wal-Mart Stores’ chairman and chief executive officer.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) dropped from $62.39 per share on Friday to as low as $57.25 on April 25, 2012, wiping out billions in market cap. NYSE:WMT shares closed on Friday, April 27, 2012 at $59.06 per share.