Feb 1, 2018 | Securities Class Action Archive
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) Share Price Falls
Post-market, on January 30, 2018, Super Micro Computer, “a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server, storage technology and green computing,” issued an announcement (“Supermicro Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2018 Preliminary Information; Management Changes”) which stated, in pertinent part, that
[Super Micro Computer’s] Audit Committee has completed the previously disclosed investigation. Additional time is required to analyze the impact, if any, of the results of the investigation on [Super Micro’s] historical financial statements, as well as to conduct additional reviews before [Super Micro] will be able to finalize its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017 (the “Form 10-K”). [Super Micro] is unable at this time to provide a date as to when the Form 10-K will be filed or to determine whether the Company’s historical financial statements will be adjusted or, if so, the amount of any such adjustment(s) and what periods any such adjustments may impact. [Super Micro] intends to file its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended September 30 and December 31, 2017 promptly after filing the Form 10-K.
Super Micro Computer’s announcement also stated that “. . . Wally Liaw, Sr. Vice President of International Sales, Phidias Chou, Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Howard Hideshima, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, have resigned. In addition, Mr. Liaw has resigned from the Company’s Board of Directors. The resignations and appointment are effective immediately.”
[Emphasis added]
Super Micro Computer Investor and Shareholder Alert
On this news, Super Micro Computer shares dropped $1.82 per share, or more than 7% from Super Micro’s previous closing price, to close at $22.83 per share on January 31, 2018.
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Super Micro Computer Shareholders and Investors
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is investigating whether Super Micro Computer and certain of its officers or directors engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. SMCI shareholders and investors with questions or concerns may contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6679, Ext. 801, [email protected], complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected] for additional information.
Jan 31, 2018 | Securities Class Action Archive
Bellicum’s Share Price Drops Sharply During Intraday Trading on January 31, 2018
Post-market, on January 30, 2018, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLCM) announced (“Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Announces Clinical Hold on BPX-501 Clinical Trials in the United States”) that Bellicum Pharmaceuticals
. . . has received notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that U.S. studies of BPX-501 have been placed on a clinical hold following three cases of encephalopathy deemed as possibly related to BPX-501.
Bellicum is awaiting formal communications from the FDA to determine the requirements for resuming studies, and will be working closely with the FDA to address their questions. The FDA clinical hold does not affect the ongoing BP-004 registration trial in Europe.
Encephalopathy has been reported in the allogeneic stem cell transplant literature. Risk factors for encephalitis/encephalopathy after allogeneic stem cell transplants include prolonged immunodeficiency, selected medications, infections, and inflammatory processes such as graft versus host disease. Bellicum has treated more than 240 patients with BPX-501 cells on three allogeneic haploidentical stem cell transplantation protocols. These three cases are complex, with a number of potential confounding factors—including, in certain of the cases, prior failed transplants, prior history of immunodeficiency, concurrent infection, and administration of rimiducid in combination with other medications. Bellicum is working with FDA to evaluate the risk of encephalopathy in patients receiving BPX-501.
[Emphasis added]
On January 31, 2018, The Motley Fool reported (“Why Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Stock is Crashing Today”) that the
. . . clinical setback may be the beginning of the end for Bellicum. [Bellicum] has staked the bulk of its value proposition on producing a safer adoptive cell therapy than the current industry leaders. So, a serious safety issue like encephalopathy — if shown to be treatment-related — would be a big blow to Bellicum’s claim of developing a “best-in-class” adoptive cell therapy.
[Emphasis added]
On the news of the clinical hold on Bellicum’s lead product candidate BPX-501, Bellicum shares dropped significantly during intraday trading on January 31, 2018.
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Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Investors
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is investigating whether Bellicum and certain of its officers or directors engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. Bellicum shareholders with questions or concerns may contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6679, Ext. 801, [email protected], complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected] for additional information.
Jan 31, 2018 | Shareholder & Investor Protection
SEC Stops AriseBank’s Allegedly Fraudulent Initial Coin Offering Targeting Retail Investors to Fund the World’s First “Decentralized Bank.”
AriseBank Used Social Media and Celebrity Endorsements to Raise $600 Million of Its $1 Billion Goal in Two Months
Unregistered Investments in “AriseCoin” Cryptocurrency Allegedly Offered and Sold
On January 30, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced (“SEC Halts Alleged Initial Coin Offering Scam”) that it obtained a court order halting an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (“ICO”) that targeted retail investors to fund what it claimed to be the world’s first “decentralized bank.”
According to the SEC’s complaint, Dallas-based AriseBank used social media, a celebrity endorsement, and other wide dissemination tactics to raise what it claims to be $600 million of its $1 billion goal in just two months.
AriseBank and its co-founders Jared Rice, Sr. and Stanley Ford allegedly offered and sold unregistered investments in their purported “AriseCoin” cryptocurrency by depicting AriseBank as a first-of-its-kind decentralized bank offering a variety of consumer-facing banking products and services using more than 700 different virtual currencies. AriseBank’s sales pitch claimed that it developed an algorithmic trading application that automatically trades in various cryptocurrencies.
The SEC alleges that AriseBank falsely stated that it purchased an FDIC-insured bank which enabled it to offer customers FDIC-insured accounts and that it also offered customers the ability to obtain an AriseBank-branded VISA card to spend any of the 700-plus cryptocurrencies. AriseBank also allegedly omitted to disclose the criminal background of key executives.
Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division said, “We allege that AriseBank and its principals sought to raise hundreds of millions from investors by misrepresenting the company as a first-of-its-kind decentralized bank offering its own cryptocurrency to be used for a broad range of customer products and services. We sought emergency relief to prevent investors from being victimized by what we allege to be an outright scam.”
The court approved an emergency asset freeze over AriseBank, Rice, and Ford and appointed a receiver over AriseBank, including over its digital assets. The SEC intervened to protect the digital assets before they could be dissipated, enabling the receiver to immediately secure various cryptocurrencies held by AriseBank including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitshares, Dogecoin, and BitUSD.
AriseCoin’s public sale began around Dec. 26, 2017, and was originally scheduled to conclude on Jan. 27, 2018, with distribution to investors on Feb. 10, 2018. The SEC seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties, and bars against Rice and Ford to prohibit them from serving as officers or directors of a public company or offering digital securities again in the future.
Initial Coin Offering & Cryptocurrency Investors
Initial Coin Offering and cryptocurrency (e.g., Bitcoin, Litecoin) investors are encouraged to use caution when considering cryptocurrency investments and Initial Coin Offerings, in addition to reviewing the following information:
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton Statement on Cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (Dec. 11, 2017)
SEC Division of Enforcement and SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations Statement on Potentially Unlawful Promotion of Initial Coin Offerings and Other Investments by Celebrities and Others (Nov. 1, 2017)
Investor Alert: Public Companies Making ICO-Related Claims(Aug. 28, 2017)
Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: The DAO (July 25, 2017)
Investor Bulletin: Initial Coin Offerings (July 25, 2017)
Investor Alert: Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currency-Related Investments (May 7, 2014)
Investor Alert: Ponzi Schemes Using Virtual Currencies (July 23, 2013)
CFTC Customer Advisory: Understand the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading (December 15, 2017)
A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies (October 17, 2017).
Source: SEC Press Release 2018-8, SEC.gov , CFTC.gov
Jan 30, 2018 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Microsoft Issues Emergency Security Update That Disables Intel’s Spectre Variant 2 Patch
CNBC reported (“Intel’s Spectre patch created its own problems, so Microsoft put out an update to fix it”) that “Microsoft issued an emergency security update on Monday [January 29, 2018] to plug Intel’s buggy Spectre firmware patch as the chipmaker’s fix caused computers to reboot frequently.” Further, according to CNBC:
Microsoft said it was rolling out an out-of-band update that specifically disables Intel’s Spectre variant 2 patch.
The latest update comes nearly four weeks after Intel confirmed that its chips were impacted by vulnerabilities known as Spectre and Meltdown, which make data on affected computers susceptible to espionage.
The Windows maker said system instability triggered by Intel’s faulty patch can in some cases cause “data loss or corruption”.
Microsoft said its latest update prevented computers to reboot unexpectedly and urged affected customers to manually download it from the Microsoft Update Catalog website.
[Emphasis added]
An article by ZDNet (“Windows emergency patch: Microsoft’s new update kills off Intel’s Spectre fix”) reported that
Microsoft has released an emergency Windows update to disable Intel’s troublesome microcode fix for the Spectre Variant 2 attack.
Not only was Intel’s fix for the Spectre attack causing reboots and stability issues, but Microsoft also found it resulted in the worse scenario of data loss or corruption in some circumstances.
To justify the out-of-band update, Microsoft highlights a comment in Intel’s fourth-quarter forward-looking statements that mentions for the first time that mitigation techniques potentially lead to data loss or corruption.
Until then, Intel had only mentioned its update was causing unexpected reboots and unpredictable system behavior.
ZDNet also reported that since
. . . there are no known reports of attacks on Spectre Variant 2, it would seem the greatest risk to systems and data at present is Intel’s buggy microcode.
The company is facing scrutiny from US lawmakers over its handling of the embargo, which has been described by some as an utter mess that left important software projects in the dark.
Jonathan Corbet, a member of the Linux Foundation’s Technical Advisory Board, said the disclosure process for Meltdown and Spectre was unusually secretive.
Additionally, ZDNet reported that “[w]hile the bugs affect Arm and AMD too, Intel is the only chipmaker whose hardware is vulnerable to all three attacks.”
[Emphasis added]
Class Actions Regarding Security Flaws of Intel’s Hardware Design
According to one class action lawsuit complaint, filed in United States District Court, Northern District of California, Intel has
[f]or over two decades, . . . been highly successful in loading most of the world’s computers with its processors. Unfortunately, Intel designed its processors to prioritize speed, not security. Until 2018, Intel didn’t even have a hardware security team.
As a result, Intel’s hardware design contains serious security flaws. On January 3, 2018, the news broke that security researchers had discovered two methods that could be used to exploit flaws in Intel’s hardware design. These two methods can give a hacker access to anything on the computer. And because they exploit flaws in hardware, not software, they work on any operating system, so long as it runs on an Intel processor.
With no hardware fix possible, software makers have recently attempted to create patches to protect Intel-based computers from hackers. But these software patches significantly slow down the computers on which they’re installed and don’t provide complete protection.
Consumers and businesses that purchased Intel-based computers now face an increased risk of being hacked, even after installing software patches that may substantially slow down their computers, giving them performance far below what they paid for.
Intel should not be permitted to retain the profits it made from skimping on security all these years.
[Emphasis added]
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Purchasers or Lessors of Intel Processors or Devices Containing an Intel Processor
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. continues to investigate issues related to the flaws in Intel’s hardware design. If you purchased or leased one or more Intel processors, or one or more devices containing an Intel processor, and have questions or concerns about your potential legal rights or claims, please contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected], complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected].
Jan 30, 2018 | Securities Class Action Archive
Investigation Commenced on Behalf of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Investors
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. has commenced an investigation to determine whether MetLife, Inc. and certain officers or Directors engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices, as a result of MetLife’s announcement that it would postpone the earnings report and conference call related to MetLife’s results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017.
On the news of MetLife’s Delayed Earnings Report, the company’s stock price fell significantly in after-hours trading on January 29, 2018.
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MarketWatch reported (“MetLife shares down 6% after company postpones earnings release, discloses reserve error”) that MetLife’s “. . . shares tanked late Monday after the company released unaudited fourth-quarter results and delayed the release of official numbers, saying it has had to revise some of its reserve estimates.” MarketWatch also reported that MetLife “. . . also disclosed that state and federal regulators have questioned the company’s handling of the reserve estimates in question.”
Financial Times reported (“MetLife shares fall 10% on ‘material weakness’ warning”) that “[s]hares in MetLife dropped . . . after the insurance and pensions group warned of ‘material weakness’ in its financial reporting, forcing it to boost reserves by about $550m.” Financial Times also reported that regulators are probing the matter, as well as that “MetLife disclosed last month that it may have failed to pay thousands of pensions because the individuals had ‘moved jobs, relocated or otherwise could not be located.”
MetLife’s press release stated, in pertinent part, that
[o]n its Dec. 15, 2017, Investor Outlook Call, MetLife announced that it was undertaking a review of practices and procedures used to estimate its reserves related to certain Retirement and Income Solutions group annuitants who have been unresponsive or missing over time.
Management of the company has determined the prior release of group annuity reserves resulted from a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting. MetLife expects to increase reserves in total between $525 million and $575 million pre-tax, to adjust for reserves previously released, as well as accrued interest and other related liabilities. The amount of the reserve increase is based in substantial part on actuarial, legal, statistical, and other assumptions. If actual facts and factors differ from those the company has assumed, the reserve the company has established could be adversely or positively affected.
The total amount expected to impact fourth quarter 2017 net income is between $135 million and $165 million pre-tax, the majority of which represents a current period strengthening of reserves and will be reflected in Adjusted Earnings (formerly known as Operating Earnings)[]. [MetLife] expect[s] the full year 2017 net income impact to be between $165 million and $195 million pre-tax. In addition, the company intends to make prior period revisions to reflect the balance of these adjustments in the appropriate historical periods. The company also expects to correct historical periods for unrelated errors in those periods, as required by accounting standards. Those errors were previously recorded in the periods in which the company identified them.
. . .
In connection with MetLife’s review and enhancement of the processes and procedures relating to its Retirement and Income Solutions business in the United States, MetLife is currently reviewing its processes and procedures for identifying unresponsive and missing international group annuity annuitants and pension beneficiaries. In addition, MetLife recently initiated an ongoing global review of its processes and procedures for identifying unresponsive and missing policyholders and beneficiaries for the other insurance and annuity products it offers. MetLife is not currently aware of any material deficiencies in its identification of unresponsive or missing annuitants, policyholders or beneficiaries with respect to such products under review.
MetLife had previously informed its primary state regulator, the New York Department of Financial Services, about this matter and is responding to questions from them and other state regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement staff has also made an inquiry regarding this matter and MetLife is responding to its questions. To date, MetLife is not aware of any intentional wrongdoing in connection with this matter.
[Emphasis added]
MetLife Investors Impacted by MetLife’s Stock Price Drop
MetLife investors who have questions or concerns about Kehoe Law Firm’s investigation related to MetLife’s stock price drop on the company’s announcement of the postponement of its fourth quarter earnings release can contact John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected], complete the form above on the right or e-mail [email protected] for additional information.
