NEW YORK, July 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Wins Finance Holdings, Inc. (“Wins” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: WINS) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California, and docketed under 20-cv-06656, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Wins securities between October 31, 2018, and July 6, 2020, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.
If you are a shareholder who purchased Wins securities during the class period, you have until September 23, 2020, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.
[Click here for information about joining the class action]
Wins, through its subsidiaries, purports to provide financing solutions for small and medium enterprises in the People’s Republic of China. The Company purports to offer financial guarantees, as well as financial leasing, advisory, consultancy, and agency services in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, and Beijing.
In September 2017, Wins engaged Centurion ZD CPA & Co. (“CZD”) as its independent registered public accounting firm after dismissing its previous accounting firm.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the ultimate repayment of the RMB 580 million Guohong Loan was highly uncertain; (ii) nonpayment of the Guohong Loan would have a significant impact on the Company’s financial and operating condition; (iii) weaknesses in Wins’s internal control over its financial reporting persisted despite the Company’s repeated assurances to investors that it was taking steps to remediate these weaknesses; (iv) the foregoing issues, among others, made the resignation of Wins’s independent auditor foreseeably likely; and (v) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On October 31, 2019, Wins filed a notification of inability to timely file Form 20-F on Form NT 20-F with the Securities and Exchange Commission(“SEC”) (the “2019 NT 20-F”).
The following trading day, the Company’s stock price declined from $11.90 to $11.20, or 5.8%, on unusually high trading volume.
On November 19, 2019, Wins issued a press release announcing its receipt of a notification letter from the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications and its intent to submit a plan of compliance.
On May 26, 2020, Wins issued a press release announcing that the Company received a delisting determination letter from Nasdaq. The press release stated, in relevant part, “[a]s disclosed previously, the Company is working assiduously to complete its delinquent filing with SEC and to regain compliance with the Nasdaq listing rule as soon as possible.”
In reaction to this news, Wins stock closed at $7.81 that day, in contrast to its previous close of $10.06, a decline of 22.3%, on unusually high trading volume.
The Company’s undisclosed ongoing financial difficulties—including non-repayment of the Guohong Loan—and material control weaknesses came to a head-on June 30, 2020, when CZD resigned as the Company’s independent auditor after less than three years in that role. On July 6, 2020, Wins issued a press release announcing CZD’s resignation.
On this news, Wins’s stock price fell $2.06 per share, or 6.1%, to close at $31.70 per share on July 7, 2020.
The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
