Securities Litigation

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In February, I noted an emerging securities litigation trend involving pump-and-dump schemes characterized by thin public float, retail investor participation, and the amplifying effects of social media. Three subsequent pump-and-dump securities filings in February and March 2026, along with a recent federal court ruling involving social media platform liability, provide further evidence that these risks may be accelerating. Taken together, these developments have important implications for D&O liability exposure and for underwriters evaluating risks associated with low-float issuers and companies whose securities trading activity may be influenced by online promotional activity.

Continue Reading Follow-On Developments in Pump-and-Dump Litigation

The recently filed securities class action against Beyond Meat (Beyond Meat SCA) illustrates how accounting judgments, industry-wide demand shifts, and corporate turnaround narratives can create D&O exposure. Filed in January 2026, the complaint alleges that Beyond Meat and senior executives misled investors during 2025 by failing to timely disclose a material asset impairment while publicly emphasizing operational discipline and a path toward EBITDA-positive performance. As discussed below, the allegations arise amid a broader deterioration in the plant-based meat sector, documented in a March 10, 2025, CNBC report, and alongside emerging academic research questioning the assumed health advantages of plant-based meat alternatives.

Taken together with the allegations of the Beyond Meat SCA, the marketplace shift and emerging academic findings may provide a useful lens for assessing certain D&O underwriting risk.

Continue Reading D&O Lessons from the Beyond Meat SCA

As detailed in prior posts on this site (here and here), turbulence in the private credit markets has roiled the financial marketplace. Collapses (and related scandals) involving high profile private credit borrowers – including Tricolor and First Brands– have led to bankruptcies, civil lawsuits, and criminal indictments. The disruption in the private credit markets has also recently led to securities class action lawsuits involving private credit lenders. In the most recent example of this phenomenon, late last week a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against private credit lender Hercules Capital, after a short seller published a report suggesting that the company had misrepresented its borrower due diligence processes. A copy of the March 20, 2026, lawsuit can be found here.

Continue Reading Private Credit Firm Hit with Securities Suit After Short Seller Report

Most readers have undoubtedly seen a recent and significant increase in attention paid to prediction markets, like Kalshi and Polymarket. The rise of prediction markets has also led to regulatory and other concerns.  But amid all the scrutiny, questions remain about what prediction market companies may represent as D&O risks. A newly filed securities complaint against a crypto platform company may create new disclosure, governance, and insider-trading-related D&O exposures.

Continue Reading Prediction Markets and Emerging D&O Risk

Following a rare trial in a federal securities class action lawsuit, a civil jury late last week found that statements Elon Musk made on social media in 2022 about his proposed $44 billion acquisition of Twitter misled investors. However, the jury also found that the plaintiff had not made the case that certain other statements by Musk were misleading. The jury’s verdict has a number of interesting implications, as discussed below. A copy of the jury’s March 20, 2026 verdict form can be found here.

Continue Reading Jury in Rare Securities Suit Trial Finds Musk Misled Twitter Investors

It has now been several years since the peak of the SPAC boom, but litigation from that period continues to work its way through the courts. One of the ongoing cases, involving a 2020 SPAC transaction, involves the question of when the applicable three-year statute of limitations begins to run.

Continue Reading SPAC Fallout, Accrual Battles, and the Long Tail of De-SPAC Risk

The number of accounting-related securities class action lawsuit filings declined in 2025, but the value of accounting-related securities suit settlements increased during the year, according to the latest annual report on the accounting suits from Cornerstone Research. The report, which is entitled “Accounting Class Action Filings and Settlements – 2025 Review and Analysis” can be found here. Cornerstone Research’s March 18, 2026, press release about the report can be found here.

Continue Reading 2025 Accounting-Related Securities Suit Filings Decreased, Settlement Value Increased

A recent Ninth Circuit decision reviving securities claims against a consumer products company and its executives highlights disclosure-related risks tied to consumer products companies’ distribution and execution capabilities that may warrant D&O underwriter consideration, particularly in light of recently revived IPO activity involving consumer products and services companies.

Continue Reading 9th Circ. Revives Securities Suit Against Consumer Products Company

When I was in London last week, one of my friends there expressed concern that the various Epstein-related revelations involving company executives might lead to D&O claims. I confess that at the time I didn’t really see her point. However, as it has turned out, just days after that conversation, investors filed a new securities suit against Apollo Global Management and its founder and former CEO Leon Black based on Epstein-related allegations. The March 2, 2026, complaint (here) alleges that the defendants misled the company’s investors about the firm’s business dealing with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Continue Reading Epstein Disclosures-Related Securities Suit Filed Against Apollo, Leon Black

While there have been dramatic developments in recent days related to the Trump administration’s tariff-policies – including the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the administration’s IEEPA tariffs and the Trump administration announcement of new across-the-board Section 122 tariffs – the uncertainty companies have faced related to the tariffs continues, and indeed may even have been exacerbated. A new securities suit filed earlier this week against Lakeland Industries, a company whose operations and financial results were impaired by “tariff headwinds,” illustrates how the continuing tariff uncertainty may translate into corporate and securities litigation in the weeks and months ahead. A copy of the February 23, 2026, Lakeland Industries complaint can be found here.

Continue Reading Protective Clothing Company Hit with Tariff-Related Securities Suit