NEW YORK, June 24, 2020 (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 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE), Carnival Corporation & Plc (NYSE: CCL, CUK), Wells Fargo and Company (NYSE: WFC), and Hebron Technology (NASDAQ: HEBT). 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.
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE)
Class Period: May 15, 2020 to May 22, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 27, 2020
On May 15, 2020, Sorrento announced that it had discovered an antibody that had “demonstrated 100% inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection.” On that same day, Defendant Henry Ji, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sorrento referred to Sorrento’s breakthrough as a “cure.”
On this news, Sorrento shares increased $4.14 to close at $6.76 on May 15, 2020. The stock continued to increase after hours and opened at $9.98 on May 18, 2020, trading at a high of $10.00 that same day, which represented an increase of 281.7% from the May 14, 2020 closing price.
On May 20, 2020, Hindenburg Research issued a report doubting the validity of Sorrento’s claims and calling them “sensational,” “nonsense” and “too good to be true.”
On this news, Sorrento shares closed at $5.70 per share on May 20, 2020, representing a decline of $4.30, or 43.0%, from the Class Period high.
Finally, on May 22, 2020, BioSpace published an article stating that in a May 21, 2020 interview with Defendants Ji and Brunswick, Ji “insist[ed] that they did not say it was a cure.”
On this news, Sorrento shares closed at $5.07 per share on May 22, 2020, representing a decline of $4.93, or 49.4%, from the Class Period high.
The complaint, filed on May 26, 2020, alleges that Sorrento failed to disclose that: (i) the Company’s initial finding of “100% inhibition” in an in vitro virus infection will not necessarily translate to success or safety in vivo, or in person; (ii) the Company’s finding was not a “cure” for COVID-19; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, the lawsuit alleges that Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis in violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
For more information on the Sorrento class action go to: https://bespc.com/SRNE
Carnival Corporation & Plc (NYSE: CCL, CUK)
Class Period: September 26, 2019 to May 1, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 27, 2020
On April 16, 2020, when the Company still had at sea two (2) of its cruise ships, Bloomberg Businessweek published an article titled “Carnival Executives Knew They Had a Virus Problem, But Kept the Party Going.” In that article, it was revealed that Carnival may have failed to adequately protect passengers from COVID-19 on a series of cruise voyages, and indeed continued to operate new cruise departures despite its knowledge that the threat posed by COVID-19 had materialized on its ships and was likely to proliferate further.
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $0.53 per share, to close at $11.85 per share on April 16, 2020.
Then, on May 1, 2020, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Cruise Ships Set Sail Knowing the Deadly Risk to Passengers and Crew.” That article detailed how cruise ships, particularly Carnival ships, facilitated the spread of COVID-19, and provided new facts on early warning signs Carnival and its affiliated cruise lines possessed and the Company’s disclosure failures. Further, the article also noted that the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure had requested documents from Carnival related “to Covid-19 or other infectious disease outbreaks aboard cruise ships” and that testimony from a separate investigation in Australia revealed that Carnival and its affiliated cruise lines may have misled shore officials by concealing those exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms before docking.
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $1.97 per share, to close at $13.93 per share on May 1, 2020.
The complaint, filed on May 27, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) the Company’s medics reported increasing events of COVID-19 illness on the Company’s ships; (2) Carnival had violated port of call regulations by concealing the amount and severity of COVID-19 infections onboard its ships; (3) in responding to the outbreak of COVID-19, Carnival failed to follow the Company’s health and safety protocols developed in the wake of other communicable disease outbreaks; (4) by continuing to operate, Carnival ships were responsible for continuing to spread COVID-19 at various ports throughout the world; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Carnival securities class action go to: https://bespc.com/CCL
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC)
Class Period: February 2, 2018 to May 5, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 3, 2020
On April 5, 2020, Wells Fargo announced that it had received strong interest in the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), and was targeting to distribute a total of $10 billion to small business customers under the requirements of the PPP.
On April 8, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would allow Wells Fargo to exceed the asset cap that it had imposed on Wells Fargo in 2018 after revelations that the Company had opened millions of accounts in customers’ names without their permission, a change which would allow Wells Fargo to make additional small business loans as part of the PPP.
That same day, Wells Fargo issued a press release stating, in relevant part, that, “beginning immediately, in response to the actions by the Federal Reserve, [Wells Fargo] will expand its participation in the [PPP] and offer loans to a broader set of its small business and nonprofit customers subject to the terms of the program.”
On April 19, 2020, after at least one lawsuit was filed against the Company, reports emerged that Wells Fargo may have unfairly allocated government-backed loans under the PPP. For example, USA Today reported that “[t]he lawsuit filed on behalf of small business owners on Sunday alleges that Wells Fargo unfairly prioritized businesses seeking large loan amounts, while the government’s small business agency has said that PPP loan applications would be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.” According to the lawsuit, “[t]he move by Wells Fargo meant that the bank would receive millions more dollars in processing fees,” and, “[m]aking matters worse, Wells Fargo concealed from the public that it was reshuffling the PPP applications it received and prioritizing the applications that would make the bank the most money.”
Following this news, Wells Fargo’s stock price fell more than 5% over two trading days to close at $26.84 per share on April 21, 2020.
Finally, on May 5, 2020, Wells Fargo filed a quarterly report on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing, in addition to multiple PPP-related lawsuits initiated against the Company, that Wells Fargo had “received formal and informal inquiries from federal and state governmental agencies regarding its offering of PPP loans.”
Following this news, Wells Fargo’s stock price fell by more than 6% over two trading days from its closing price on May 4, 2020, closing at $25.61 per share on May 6, 2020.
The complaint, filed on June 4, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about Wells Fargo’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Wells Fargo planned to, and did, improperly allocate government-backed loans under the PPP, and/or had inadequate controls in place to prevent such misallocation; (ii) the foregoing foreseeably increased the Company’s litigation risk with respect to PPP allocation, as well as increased regulatory scrutiny and/or potential enforcement actions; and (iii) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Wells Fargo class action go to: https://bespc.com/WFC-2
Hebron Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: HEBT)
Class Period: April 24, 2020 to June 3, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 10, 2020
On June 3, 2020, Grizzly Research presented a report alleging that Hebron is an “insider enrichment scheme without economic basis,” citing questionable transactions including an undisclosed related party transaction for nearly $26 million.
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $8.26, or nearly 37%, to close at $14.29 per share on June 3, 2020. The stock continued to decline the next trading session by $2.51, or nearly 18%, to close at $11.78 per share on June 4, 2020.
The complaint, filed on June 9, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that many of Hebron’s acquisitions, including Beijing Hengpu and Nami Holding (Cayman) Co., Ltd., involved undisclosed related parties; (2) that the Company’s disclosure controls regarding related party transactions was ineffective; and (3) that, as a result of the foregoing, defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Hebron Technology class action go to: https://bespc.com/HEBT
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. 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.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
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