Public Pension Fund Leads Record-Setting $350 Million Settlement in Securities Fraud Case Against Alphabet

Lead plaintiff State of Rhode Island, Office of the Rhode Island Treasurer on behalf of the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island, represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, set multiple records with a $350 million recovery in a securities fraud case against Google, its parent company Alphabet, Inc., and certain officers. The recovery is the largest ever privacy or cybersecurity-related securities class action recovery and the Ninth Circuit’s largest ever securities class action recovery following a complete dismissal.

“This is an unprecedented recovery for a case that required the Rhode Island Treasurer to win a unanimous reversal from the Ninth Circuit, which confirmed that misleadingly incomplete statements can be just as deceptive as outright lies,” said partner Jason A. Forge, lead counsel for the investor class. “That published decision will make our stock markets fairer for everyone.”

The case arises out of an alleged scheme that began with Google’s discovery of a years-long software glitch in its Google+ platform that gave third-party developers access to private user information. Defendants are alleged to have misled investors by concealing Google’s data-security vulnerabilities and the lengths to which Google would have to go to avoid Congressional intervention. Defendants’ scheme allegedly caused the company’s stock to trade at artificially inflated prices.

Robbins Geller achieved the settlement after over five years of litigation, including an appellate victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after the district court dismissed the case. Partner Jason Forge argued the case before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit that unanimously reversed the district court’s dismissal order.

After that appellate victory, the prosecution team worked with experts from Berkeley Law to develop a damages methodology that could account for the unique circumstances of the case. This proved pivotal in reaching the settlement that Rhode Island reached with the defendants. The court approved the settlement on September 30, 2024.

Robbins Geller attorneys Jason A. Forge, Laura M. Andracchio, Michael Albert, J. Marco Janoski Gray, Ting H. Liu, Kenneth P. Dolitsky, and Sarah A. Fallon represent lead plaintiff State of Rhode Island.

About Robbins Geller

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading complex class action 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 Alphabet, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 3:18-cv-06245 (N.D. Cal.).