NEW YORK, June 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class actions have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA), Enservco Corp. (NYSE American: ENSV), CareDx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNA), and Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRO). Stockholders have until the deadlines below to petition the court to serve as lead plaintiff. Additional information about each case can be found at the link provided.
Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA)
Class Period: March 5, 2021 – March 22, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 19, 2022
Okta provides identity solutions for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, universities, non-profits, and government agencies in the U.S. and internationally. The Company offers a variety of cybersecurity products and services. Following its completed merger with Auth0, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Auth0”), on May 3, 2021 (the “Merger”), Okta began providing additional Auth0 products related to cybersecurity and login solutions.
Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Okta had inadequate cybersecurity controls; (ii) as a result, Okta’s systems were vulnerable to data breaches; (iii) Okta ultimately did experience a data breach caused by a hacking group, which potentially affected hundreds of Okta customers; (iv) Okta initially did not disclose and subsequently downplayed the severity of the data breach; (v) all the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to have a material negative impact on Okta’s business, financial condition, and reputation; and (vi) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On or around March 21, 2022, hackers known as LAPSUS$ posted screenshots on their Telegram1 channel showing what they claimed was Okta’s internal company environment. Thereafter, on March 22, 2022, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), Defendant Todd McKinnon (“McKinnon”), posted a statement on his Twitter account, disclosing that, “[i]n late January 2022, Okta detected an attempt to compromise the account of a third party customer support engineer working for one of our subprocessors”; that “[t]he matter was investigated and contained by the subprocessor”; that “[w]e believe the screenshots shared online are connected to this January event”; and that, “[b]ased on our investigation to date, there is no evidence of ongoing malicious activity beyond the activity detected in January.”
On this news, Okta’s stock price fell $2.98 per share, or 1.76%, to close at $166.43 per share on March 22, 2022.
Later, on March 22, 2022, during after-market hours, in a statement on Okta’s website, the Company’s Chief Security Officer (“CSO”), Defendant David Bradbury (“Bradbury”), disclosed, inter alia, that “[a]fter a thorough analysis of [the LAPSUS$] claims, we have concluded that a small percentage of customers – approximately 2.5% – have potentially been impacted and whose data may have been viewed or acted upon.”
Following Okta’s updated statement, multiple news outlets reported that hundreds of the Company’s clients were potentially affected by the January 2022 data breach. For example, on March 23, 2022, CNN published an article entitled “Okta concedes hundreds of clients could be affected by breach[,]” noting that, despite the Company’s statement that “a small percentage of customers – approximately 2.5% – have potentially been impacted[,]” the Company “has over 15,000 customers, according to its website.” That same day, Reuters and others published similar reports.
Separately, Okta was downgraded by Raymond James from “strong buy” to “market perform,” noting, among other things, that “[w]hile partners were willing to trust Okta’s track record, the handling of its latest security incident adds to our mounting concerns.”
Following Okta’s after-market update and Raymond James downgrade, the Company’s stock price fell $17.88 per share, or 10.74%, to close at $148.55 per share on March 23, 2022.
As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s securities, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages.
For more information on the Okta class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/OKTA
Enservco Corp. (NYSE American: ENSV)
Class Period: May 13, 2021 – April 18, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 19, 2022
Enservco, through its subsidiaries, provides well enhancement and fluid management services to the onshore oil and natural gas industry in the United States.
Recently, the Company has employed several tactics in an apparent effort to strengthen its balance sheets. For example, in August 2020, Enservco’s Board of Directors approved a transaction to, inter alia, exchange 50% of the Company’s subordinated debt with Cross River Partners, L.P. (“Cross River Partners”), a related party. Enservco’s Chief Executive Officer, Defendant Richard A. Murphy, is managing member of Cross River Capital Management, LLC, the general partner of Cross River Partners. On February 3, 2021, Enservco exchanged the remaining 50% of its subordinated debt with Cross River Partners. In addition, the Company awarded a warrant to Cross River Partners to purchase up to 150,418 additional shares of the Company’s common stock in the future at an exercise price of $2.507 per share.
Moreover, during the second quarter of 2021, Enservco amended payroll tax returns originally filed for the third and fourth quarters of 2020 to claim refundable Employee Retention Credits (“ERCs”)—a type of tax credit provided for under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”)—for those periods.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Enservco had defective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; (ii) as a result, there were errors in Enservco’s financial statements relating to, inter alia, its transactions with Cross River Partners and accounting for ERCs; (iii) accordingly, the Company would need to restate certain of its financial statements and delay the filing of its 2021 annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”); (iv) the Company downplayed the true scope and severity of its financial reporting issues; (v) accordingly, the Company could not file its delayed 2021 annual report with the SEC within its initially represented timeline; and (vi) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On March 28, 2022, Enservco disclosed in an SEC filing that it had “concluded that the Company’s previously issued condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the quarters ended March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2021” (collectively, the “Relevant Periods”) “should no longer be relied upon largely because of the Company’s accounting for a conversion of debt to equity with a related party,” namely, Cross River Partners. The Company further advised that it had “misinterpret[ed the] eligibility for certain employee retention tax credits under relevant provisions of the [CARES Act]” and would “amend its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the Relevant Periods to reflect restatements of its condensed consolidated financial statements for the Relevant Periods.”
On this news, Enservco’s stock price fell $0.45 per share, or 12.3%, to close at $3.21 per share on March 28, 2022.
On March 31, 2022, Enservco disclosed in an SEC filing that it could not timely file the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K with the SEC for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 because the Company was “in the process of restating [its] financial statements and preparing amendments to its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filings for the Relevant Periods, which must be completed prior to the completion and filing of the [Company]’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2021.”
On this news, Enservco’s stock price fell $0.21 per share, or 7.78%, to close at $2.49 per share on April 1, 2022.
On April 4, 2022, Enservco disclosed in an SEC filing that its Chief Financial Officer, Defendant Marjorie A. Hargrave, “is departing the Company and will no longer be an executive officer and employee of the Company effective April 22, 2022.”
On this news, Enservco’s stock price fell $0.19 per share, or 7.48%, to close at $2.35 per share on April 5, 2022.
On April 11, 2022, Enservco filed amended quarterly reports with the SEC for the Relevant Periods, each of which reported adjusted net losses that increased, and adjusted other income that decreased, significantly for their respective periods.
Then, on April 18, 2022, Enservco disclosed in an SEC filing that the Company “will not be filing its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 within the 15-day extension period provided by the Company’s 12b-25 filing” because it “intends to [again] amend its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the Relevant Periods to reflect restatements of its condensed consolidated financial statements for the Relevant Periods.”
On this news, Enservco’s stock price fell $0.38 per share, or 10.47%, to close at $3.25 per share on April 19, 2022.
For more information on the Enservco class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/ENSV
CareDx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNA)
Class Period: February 24, 2021 – May 5, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 22, 2022
CareDx is a diagnostics company that offers diagnostic testing services, products, and digital healthcare software for organ transplant patients and care providers. Testing services for kidney and heart transplant recipients represented at least 85% of CareDx’s total revenues, and the Company’s AlloSure blood test for transplant recipients was the Company’s primary source of revenue. Additionally, the higher reimbursement payment rates for its Medicare-approved tests drove growth of the Company’s average sale price (“ASP”), an important metric for investors. Throughout the Class Period, CareDx reported growing revenue and strong demand in the Company’s testing services segment. Defendants also emphasized to investors the success of the Company’s RemoTraC service – a remote, home-based, blood-drawing service that the Company launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Class Action alleges that, during the Class Period, Defendants misled investors and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Defendants had engaged in a variety of improper and illegal schemes to inflate testing services revenue and demand, including pushing a surveillance protocol through inaccurate marketing materials, offering extravagant inducements or kickbacks to physicians and other providers, and improperly bundling expensive testing services with other blood tests as part of the RemoTraC service; (2) these practices, and others, subjected CareDx to an undisclosed risk of regulatory scrutiny; (3) these practices rendered the Company’s testing services revenue reported throughout the Class Period artificially inflated; and (4) as a result, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
The truth began to emerge on October 28, 2021, when CareDx filed its quarterly report for the third quarter of 2021 on Form 10-Q with the SEC. Under the heading “United States Department of Justice and United States Securities and Exchange Commission Investigation,” the Company revealed for the first time that CareDx was the subject of at least three government investigations related to its “accounting and public reporting practices.” In response to this news, CareDx’s stock price fell 27%, from a closing price of $70.34 per share on October 28, 2021, to a closing price of $51.00 per share on October 29, 2021.
Investors learned more about the nature of the government investigations when, on April 15, 2022, CareDx’s former Head of Community Nephrology, Dr. Michael Olymbios, filed a complaint in California Superior Court that provided extensive detail about: (1) Defendants’ misconduct, including the use of RemoTraC to improperly bundle the Company’s most expensive testing services, including AlloSure, with other blood tests, that led to the government investigations; (2) Defendants’ knowledge of the misconduct throughout the Class Period; and (3) their attempts to conceal the misconduct. In response to this filing, CareDx’s stock price fell an additional 8% the next trading day, from a closing price of $35.41 per share on April 14, 2022, to a closing price of $32.55 per share on April 18, 2022.
Finally, after the markets closed on May 5, 2022, CareDx issued a press release announcing financial results for the first quarter of 2022, reporting a near 5% decline in the ASP of the Company’s testing services. In response to this news, CareDx’s stock price fell 18.5%, from a closing price of $31.66 per share on May 5, 2022, to a closing price of $25.87 per share on May 6, 2022.
For more information on the CareDx class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/CDNA
Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRO)
Class Period: October 28, 2021 – May 2, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 25, 2022
Spero, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on identifying, developing, and commercializing treatments for multi-drug resistant bacterial infections and rare diseases in the United States. The Company's product candidates include Tebipenem Pivoxil Hydrobromide (HBr), an oral carbapenem-class antibiotic to treat complicated urinary tract infections, including pyelonephritis for adults.
On October 28, 2021, Spero announced that it had submitted a New Drug Application (“NDA”) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for Tebipenem HBr for the Treatment of Complicated Urinary Tract Infections including Pyelonephritis (the “Tebipenem HBr NDA”).
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the data submitted in support of the Tebipenem HBr NDA were insufficient to obtain FDA approval; (ii) accordingly, it was unlikely that the FDA would approve the Tebipenem HBr NDA in its current form; (iii) the foregoing would necessitate a significant workforce reduction and restructuring of Spero’s operations; and (iv) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On March 31, 2022, Spero issued a press release announcing the Company’s fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results. In the press release, Spero disclosed that “[t]he U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified Spero that, as part of its ongoing review of Spero’s New Drug Application (NDA) for tebipenem HBr, it has identified deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling and post-marketing requirements/commitments at this time.”
On this news, Spero’s stock price fell $1.59 per share, or 18.27%, to close at $7.11 per share on April 1, 2022.
Then on May 3, 2022, Spero issued a press release announcing “that it will immediately defer current commercialization activities for tebipenem HBr based on feedback from a recent Late Cycle Meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding Spero’s New Drug Application (NDA) for tebipenem HBr[,]” and that, “[a]lthough the review is still ongoing and the FDA has not yet made any final determination regarding approvability, the discussion suggested that the data package may be insufficient to support approval during this review cycle.” Specifically, the FDA advised the Company, in relevant part, that the FDA’s separate analysis of the relevant study population had “reduce[d] the number of evaluable patients in the primary analysis population compared with those resulting from the trial’s pre-specified micro-ITT population as outlined in the statistical analysis plan and [a]s a result, the FDA considers that the pre-specified non-inferiority margin of -12.5% was not met.” Further, the press release advised that, “[i]n connection with this development, Spero announced that it is undertaking a reduction in its workforce by approximately 75% and a restructuring of its operations to reduce operating costs and reallocate resources.”
On this news, Spero’s stock price fell $3.24 per share, or 63.65%, to close at $1.85 per share on May 3, 2022.
For more information on the Spero class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/SPRO
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York, California, and South Carolina. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
