A California federal judge appears open to tossing Apple investors’ putative class claims alleging the tech giant misrepresented its sales in China and intentionally hid wrongdoing relating to its sluggish iPhones, saying that despite the length of the 190-page complaint, “it’s still somewhat amorphous,” reports Law360 (a subscription is required to read the entire article).
In April 2019, Apple, along with its CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri, were named as defendants in a securities fraud lawsuit. The class action suit, represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, was filed in the Northern District of California by the City of Roseville Employees’ Retirement System, a pension plan in Michigan.
The lawsuit says the tech giant “failed to disclose adverse information regarding Apple’s business and prospects” in the midst of the ongoing Sino-US trade war. Furthermore, the complaint said Apple’s business in China is “more susceptible to geopolitical trade maneuvers by the United States and China,” and that “tariffs imposed by the United States have also threatened sales.”
