Robert Reed , Et Al. V. Amira Nature Foods Ltd., Et Al. 15-CV-00957
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Case 2: cv-00957-FMO-PJW Document 56 Filed 06/01/15 Page 1 of 63 Page ID #:518 1 Robert S. Green (SBN 136183) James R. Noblin (SBN 114442) 2 GREEN & NOBLIN, P.C. 4500 East Pacific Coast Highway, Fourth Floor 3 Long Beach, California 90804 4 Telephone: (562) 391-2487 Facsimile: (415) 477-6710 5 -and- 700 Larkspur Landing Circle, Suite 275 6 Larkspur, CA 94939 7 Telephone: (415) 477-6700 Email: [email protected] 8 Local Counsel for the Proposed Class 9 Peter Safirstein (admitted pro hac vice) 10 MORGAN & MORGAN, P.C. 28 W. 44th St., Suite 2001 11 New York, NY 10036 12 Telephone: (212) 564-1637 Facsimile: (212) 564-1807 13 Email:[email protected] 14 Lead Counsel for the Proposed Class 15 [Additional counsel appear on signature page] 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 17 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 18 ROBERT REED, Individually and on Master File Case No. Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, CV 15-0957 FMO (PJWx) 19 Plaintiff, 20 CLASS ACTION 21 vs. CONSOLIDATED AMENDED 22 AMIRA NATURE FOODS LTD., COMPLAINT FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE 23 KARAN A. CHANANA, BRUCE C. WACHA, RITESH SUNEJA, and FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS 24 ASHISH PODDAR, JURY TRIAL DEMANDED 25 Defendants. 26 27 28 Case 2:15-cv-00957-FMO-PJW Document 56 Filed 06/01/15 Page 2 of 63 Page ID #:519 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 2 I. SUMMARY OF THE ACTION ..................................................................... 1 3 II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE ..................................................................... 4 4 III. PARTIES.........................................................................................................5 5 IV. SUBSTANTIVE ALLEGATIONS ................................................................. 8 6 A. Background of the Company ................................................................ 8 7 1. Amira’s Industry and Corporate Structure ................................. 8 8 2. Types of Reported Revenue ..................................................... 10 B. The Basmati Rice Industry..................................................................12 9 1. Basmati Rice ............................................................................. 12 10 2. Basmati Margins.......................................................................13 11 3. Amira Export Data as Reported by the APEDA ...................... 15 C. Amira’s Overstatement of Basmati Export Revenue..........................16 12 D. Amira’s Overstatement of Revenue from Sales in India .................... 21 13 E. Related Party Transactions ................................................................. 23 14 1. Karam Enterprises .................................................................... 24 2. Other Undisclosed Related Parties are Clients and 15 Suppliers................................................................................... 25 16 3. Amira’s $30M Sham Real Estate Transaction ......................... 28 F. Further Materially False and Misleading Statements ......................... 31 17 G. The Truth Emerges.............................................................................. 42 18 V. CLASS ACTION ALLEGATIONS ............................................................. 43 19 VI. LOSS CAUSATION ..................................................................................... 46 20 VII. SCIENTER ALLEGATIONS.......................................................................46 21 VIII. APPLICABILITY OF PRESUMPTION OF RELIANCE THROUGH FRAUD-ON-THE-MARKET DOCTRINE.................................................. 47 22 23 F IX. NO SAFE HARBOR.....................................................................................48 X. CAUSES OF ACTION ................................................................................. 49 24 COUNT I 25 Violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 Promulgated Thereunder 26 Against Amira and the Individual Defendants ................................... 49 27 28 CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT Case No.: CV 15-0957 FMO (PJWx) i Case 2:15-cv-00957-FMO-PJW Document 56 Filed 06/01/15 Page 3 of 63 Page ID #:520 1 COUNT II Violations of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act 2 Against the Individual Defendants ..................................................... 53 COUNT III 3 Violations of Section 11 of the Securities Act Against Amira, Chanana, and Suneja ................................................. 54 4 COUNT IV 5 Violations of Section 15 of the Securities Act Against Defendants Chanana and Suneja ........................................... 57 6 XI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF................................................................................59 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT Case No.: CV 15-0957 FMO (PJWx) j Case 2:1 cv-00957-FMO-PJW Document 56 Filed 06/01/15 Page 4 of 63 Page ID #:521 1 Lead Plaintiff Steamfitters Local 449 Pension Plan (“Steamfitters Local 2 449” or “Plaintiff”), by and through their attorneys, alleges the following upon 3 information and belief, except as to those allegations concerning Plaintiff, which 4 5 are alleged upon personal knowledge. Plaintiff’s information and belief is based 6 upon, among other things, counsel’s investigation, which includes without 7 8 limitation: (a) review and analysis of regulatory filings made by Amira Nature 9 Foods Ltd. (“Amira” or the “Company”), with the United States Securities and 10 Exchange Commission (“SEC”); (b) review and analysis of press releases and 11 12 media reports issued by and disseminated by Amira; (c) a report issued by 13 Prescience Point Research Group; (d) reports issued by the Credit Rating 14 Information Services of India Limited (“CRISIL”); (e) export data from India’s 15 16 Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority 17 (“APEDA”); and (e) review of other publicly available information concerning 18 Amira. 19 I. SUMMARY OF THE ACTION 20 21 1. This is a federal securities class action on behalf of a class consisting 22 of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired the 23 securities of Amira pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s Registration 24 25 Statement and Prospectus issued in connection with the Company’s Initial Public 26 Offering (“IPO”) or purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Amira during the 27 period between October 10, 2012 and February 9, 2015, inclusively (“Class 28 CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT -1- Case No.: CV 15-0957 FMO (PJWx) Case 2:15-cv-00957-FMO-PJW Document 56 Filed 06/01/15 Page 5 of 63 Page ID #:522 1 Period”). Plaintiff seeks to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of 2 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and the Securities Act 3 of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). 4 5 2. Amira is a global provider of packaged specialty rice, primarily 6 Basmati rice which is a specialty long-grain rice grown only in certain regions of 7 8 the Indian sub-continent. 9 3. During the Class Period, Amira projected strong earnings and growth 10 regarding the Company’s Basmati rice sales. 11 12 4. Unbeknownst to the investing public however, Amira’s Basmati 13 revenue was and is grossly overstated. 14 5 On February 9, 2015, a third-party analyst firm, Prescience Point 15 1 16 Research Group (“PPRG”) , issued a report (the “Report”) exposing, among other 17 things, the material overstatements of revenues and undisclosed related party 18 transactions by Amira. 19 20 6. According to information that PPRG received from India’s relevant 21 government authority, APEDA, Amira exported only around $69 million of 22 Basmati rice in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 (“FY’13”) and only around 23 24 1 25 PPRG readily acknowledges that they have a short position in Amira and stands to gain if the stock declines. However, they also state, “To the best of our ability 26 and belief, as of the date hereof, all information contained herein is accurate and 27 reliable and does not omit to state material facts necessary to make the statements herein not misleading, and all information has been obtained from public sources 28 we believe to be accurate and reliable....” CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT -2- Case No.: CV 15-0957 FMO (PJWx) Case 2:15-cv-00957-FMO-PJW Document 56 Filed 06/01/15 Page 6 of 63 Page ID #:523 1 $87 million of Basmati rice in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 (“FY’14”). 2 PPRG reports that these amounts are in sharp contrast to the revenue information 3 disclosed by the Company in Amira’s SEC filings and believes in good faith that 4 5 Amira’s filings with the SEC overstate the Company’s Basmati exports by 6 approximately $100m in FY’13 and approximately $102m in FY’14. 7 8 7. Moreover, Amira is listed by the APEDA as the fourteenth largest 9 exporter of basmati rice in India. However PPRG’s Report contends, “Had Amira 10 truly generated the revenue from Basmati exports it reported to US investors, it 11 12 would have been the 4th and 5th largest exporter of basmati rice in FY’13 and 13 FY’14, respectively...”. 14 8. As summarized by PPRG: 15 16 We have sourced official Indian government Basmati export data that proves [Amira] has overstated its international Basmati 17 revenue. We estimate that [Amira] inflated this metric by ~145% 18 in FY’13 and ~117% in FY’14, implying that in FY’14, ~19% of [Amira] consolidated sales were fabricated. We have also 19 collected evidence indicating Amira is lying about its India 20 Basmati revenue, which it tells US investors is derived