BOCA RATON, Fla., March 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saxena White P.A. has filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit (the “Class Action”) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against Lordstown Motors Corporation (“Lordstown” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: RIDE) on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Lordstown common stock between October 26, 2020 and March 17, 2021, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
If you purchased Lordstown common stock during the Class Period and wish to apply to be lead plaintiff, a motion on your behalf must be filed with the Court no later than May 17, 2021. You may contact David Kaplan (dkaplan@saxenawhite.com), an attorney and Director at Saxena White P.A., to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff or your interest in the Class Action. You may also submit your information at https://www.saxenawhite.com/lordstown-motors-corporation-class-action-lawsuit/.
Lordstown is an electric vehicle startup company. Founded in 2018, Lordstown sought to become the first manufacturer of a full size, all-electric pickup truck. The very next year, Lordstown acquired a shuttered 6 million square-foot factory from General Motors in Lordstown, Ohio that had once employed approximately 10,000 people. Lordstown held itself out as a savior that promised to restore lost jobs and transform this area of Ohio into the epicenter for electric vehicle production, which the Company dubbed “Voltage Valley.”
In June 2020, the Company revealed its “Endurance” electric pickup truck in a splashy ceremony that received national media attention. During the event, Defendant Burns, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) heavily promoted the Endurance’s growth prospects, declaring that “we have our whole year, our first year of production already pre-sold” and deliveries of the all-electric truck would begin in “early 2021.” Just two months later, Lordstown announced that it had secured a remarkable $1.4 billion in pre-orders.
In September 2020, only weeks before going public on the NASDAQ through a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), the Company declared that its book of pre-orders for Endurance had expanded from 27,000 to 40,000. By January 2021, the Company’s announced pre-orders for Endurance had soared to 100,000, which Defendants hailed as “unprecedented in automotive history” and put Lordstown in a position to “revolutionize the pickup truck industry.”
Defendants continued to tout the strong demand for Endurance and the Company’s growth prospects throughout the Class Period, consistently pointing to Lordstown’s purported book of 100,000 pre-orders for the Endurance and assuring investors that these represented strong commercial demand from actual customers operating fleets of trucks.
As alleged in the Class Action Complaint, these and similar statements issued by Defendants during the Class Period were false and misleading and omitted material facts. Specifically, as Defendants knew but concealed and misrepresented to investors: (i) the number of Endurance pre-orders were fabricated, and therefore inflated, and thus did not accurately reflect demand; (ii) Lordstown had fabricated the pre-orders in order to give prospective investors a false sense of confidence; (iii) the Company faced undisclosed production obstacles that would continue to delay production and delivery of the Endurance; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ statements about Lordstown’s business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
The truth began to emerge on March 12, 2021, when the investigative research and reporting firm Hindenburg Research issued a scathing report concluding that Lordstown “is an electric vehicle SPAC with no revenue and no sellable product” that “misled investors on both its demand and production capabilities.” The Hindenburg report determined, after including “conversations with former employees, business partners and an extensive document review” that Lordstown’s book of 100,000 pre-orders for its proposed EV truck “are largely fictitious and used as a prop to raise capital and confer legitimacy.” In sharp contrast to Defendants’ assurances that deliveries of the Endurance would begin in “early 2021,” the Hindenburg Report estimated that the Endurance was in fact three to four years away from production. On this news, Lordstown’s share price plummeted by nearly 17%.
On March 17, 2021, Lordstown disclosed that the Company was under investigation by the SEC regarding the matters detailed in the Hindenburg report. On this news, Lordstown’s share price fell by nearly 14%, closing at $13.01 per share on March 18, 2021, representing a stunning 58% decline from its Class Period high.
The securities Class Action alleges that as a direct result of Defendants’ materially false and misleading statements during the Class Period, and the sharp decline in the market value of the Company’s shares, investors in the Company’s publicly traded shares suffered significant losses and recoverable damages.
You may obtain a copy of the Complaint and inquire about actively joining the Class Action at www.saxenawhite.com.
Saxena White P.A., with offices in Florida, New York, Delaware, and California, is a leading national law firm focused on prosecuting securities class actions and other complex litigation on behalf of injured investors. Currently serving as lead counsel in numerous securities fraud class actions nationwide, Saxena White has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of injured investors.
CONTACT INFORMATION
David Kaplan, Esq.
dkaplan@saxenawhite.com
Saxena White P.A.
12750 High Bluff Drive, Suite 475
San Diego, CA 92130
Tel: (858) 987-0860
Fax: (858) 369-0096
www.saxenawhite.com