Court Grants Preliminary Approval to $490 Million Securities Fraud Recovery in Case Against Apple

Case Concerned Fraud Allegations Regarding Apple’s Business in China

A federal court gave preliminary approval to a $490 million shareholder recovery in a securities fraud class action against Apple. The case concerns allegations that Apple CEO Timothy Cook made false and misleading statements to investors.

In November 2018, Apple allegedly misrepresented the condition of the company’s current business in Greater China, including the impact of the slowing economy in China and demand for the iPhone in the region. Two months later, in January 2019, Apple pre-announced that it would miss its quarterly earnings for the first time in more than 15 years and gave the reason as weak iPhone sales in Greater China caused by economic problems in that country. This news caused the market price of Apple stock to plunge more than 9%, resulting in significant losses for investors. Apple and its executives admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement. 

The case is pending final approval before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California. If finally approved, the case will be the third-largest securities class action recovery ever in the Northern District of California and the fifth-largest such recovery ever in the Ninth Circuit.

Robbins Geller attorneys Shawn A. Williams, Mark Solomon, Jason A. Forge, Daniel J. Pfefferbaum, Kenneth J. Black, Hadiya K. Deshmukh, and Jacob G. Gelman are representing Apple investors.

The Apple case is one of multiple historic cases Robbins Geller has prosecuted against Big Tech in recent years.

• Shawn A. Williams, who served as lead counsel for investors in the Apple case, also served as lead counsel in a case against Facebook that recovered a then-record $650 million for consumers, the largest privacy class action settlement at the time. The Facebook case alleged the company was extracting biometric information from users in violation of Illinois privacy law.
• Earlier this year, partner Jason A. Forge led a Robbins Geller trial team that recently secured a $350 million recovery for Alphabet investors in a securities fraud class action, which is pending court approval.

About Robbins Geller

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading complex litigation firms, representing plaintiffs in securities fraud, shareholder derivative, antitrust, corporate takeover, and consumer fraud and privacy cases. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the world’s largest plaintiffs’ firms, and the Firm’s attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities, antitrust, and consumer class action recoveries in history.

Over the last decade, our Firm has been ranked #1 on the ISS Securities Class Action Services law firm rankings for six out of the last ten years for securing the most monetary relief for investors. In the last four years, Robbins Geller recovered $6.6 billion for investors in securities-related class action cases – over $2.2 billion more than any other law firm during that time. The Firm secured the largest-ever securities fraud class action settlement – $7.2 billion – in In re Enron Corp. Securities Litigation. 

For media inquiries, please contact media@rgrdlaw.com or call (619) 338-3821.

In re Apple Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 4:19-cv-02033-YGR (N.D. Cal.).