The law firm of Kirby McInerney LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on behalf of those who acquired Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (“Medical Properties” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MPW) securities during the period from July 15, 2019 through February 22, 2023 (the “Class Period”). Investors have until June 12, 2023 to apply to the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Medical Properties is a real estate investment trust that acquires and develops hospital facilities on a net lease basis.
On February 23, 2023, Medical Properties disclosed its Q4 2022 and year-end 2022 financial results, lending credence to the concerns raised in the Viceroy Report which asserted that the Company had “engaged in billions of dollars of uncommercial transactions with its tenants and their management teams in order to mask a pervasive revenue round-robin scheme and/or theft.” On the same day, Medical Properties also filed a Form 8-K with the SEC, which disclosed an impairment charge of $171 million relating to the Pennsylvania Properties and a write-off of an additional $112 million on unbilled rent to Prospect Medical Holdings and that its COO and Executive Vice President, Emmett E. McLean was retiring. On this news, the price of Medical Properties shares declined by $1.06 per share, or approximately 8.69%, from $12.20 per share to close at $11.14 on February 23, 2023.
The lawsuit alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose that: (i) the Company masked the distressed state of its tenants through sale-leaseback arrangements, which were essentially round-robin transactions in that they allowed debt-saddled tenants to meet their obligations in the short-term; (ii) the Company fraudulently transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in what amounted to a bailout of financially distressed tenants; and (iii) the Company concealed its fraudulent transfers with fake construction projects with purportedly high capital expenses, despite the fact that the Company entered into “triple-net leases,” which meant that its tenants were obligated to pay a significant portion of expenses, such as real estate taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired Medical Properties securities, have information, or would like to learn more about this lawsuit and how it might affect your rights, please contact Thomas W. Elrod of Kirby McInerney LLP by email at investigations@kmllp.com, or by filling out this contact form, to discuss your rights or interests with respect to these matters without any cost to you.
Kirby McInerney LLP is a New York-based plaintiffs’ law firm concentrating in securities, antitrust, whistleblower, and consumer litigation. The firm’s efforts on behalf of shareholders in securities litigation have resulted in recoveries totaling billions of dollars. Additional information about the firm can be found at Kirby McInerney LLP’s website: http://www.kmllp.com.
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