Norfolk County Council has been appointed lead plaintiff in legal action in the US over technology firm Apple’s alleged misrepresentation of its profits in 2018.
It has taken the case on behalf of the Norfolk Pension Fund against Apple, its chief executive Tim Cook and its chief financial officer Luca Maestri.
A council spokesman said the pension fund had no legal personality and so the council was named in the action as the administering authority of the fund. Norfolk’s fund covers the county council and its districts.
The spokesman said the fund was fully indemnified against costs because of the US practice of the plaintiff’s counsel funding the case and being paid later from a percentage of any settlement or award, meaning there is no exposure for taxpayers in Norfolk.
A ruling by District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the US District Court of the Northern District of California approved Norfolk as lead plaintiff and that the case should become a class action in which other aggrieved investors could join.
The court document said Norfolk alleged that in 2018 Apple misrepresented the state of its business in Greater China to investors and that this became apparent in January 2019 when the company pre-announced its first earnings shortfall in more than 15 years, to $84bn against the $89-93bn previously predicted.
As a class action the court said this may be joined by “all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the publicly traded securities of Apple Inc. during the period from November 2, 2018 through January 2, 2019, including, and who suffered damages by defendants’ alleged violations of [Sections] 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act.”
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