Future FinTech Group Inc.
On January 11, 2024, around or after market close, the SEC posted a press release on its website entitled “SEC Charges Future FinTech CEO Shanchun Huang With Fraud and Disclosure Failures.” (The “SEC Announcement”). Attached to the SEC Announcement was a complaint that the SEC filed against Defendant Huant in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “SEC Complaint” or the “Complaint”). The SEC Complaint stated that Defendant Huang “manipulated the stock price of Future FinTech by buying hundreds of thousands of Future FinTech shares to artificially increase the company’s stock price shortly before and after he became CEO in March 2020.” The Complaint also noted that “Huang has never filed any forms with the Commission disclosing his ownership of or transactions in Future FinTech stock from January 2020 through March 2021.” On this news, the price of the Company’s stock went down by $0.27, or 20.93%, to close at $1.02 on January 12, 2024.
According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Defendant Shanchun Huang manipulated the price of Future FinTech stock; (2) Defendant Huang and Future FinTech lied to the Securities and Exchange Commission about the nature of Defendant Huang's ownership of Future FinTech stock; (3) Future FinTech understated its legal risk; (4) Future FinTech did not disclose the unlawful measures Defendant Huang took to prop up the price of its stock; and (5) as a result, Defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Defendant Shanchun Huang manipulated the price of Future FinTech stock; (2) Defendant Huang and Future FinTech lied to the Securities and Exchange Commission about the nature of Defendant Huang's ownership of Future FinTech stock; (3) Future FinTech understated its legal risk; (4) Future FinTech did not disclose the unlawful measures Defendant Huang took to prop up the price of its stock; and (5) as a result, Defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.