DENVER (Legal Newsline) — A Pennsylvania county employees' retirement system is alleging it purchased an intelligence community software company's stock at artificially inflated prices.
Allegheny County Employees' Retirement System, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint Oct. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against Palantir Technologies Inc., Alexander C. Karp, David Glazer and Shyam Sankar alleging violation of federal securities laws.
According to the plaintiffs' class action, Palantir builds and deploys software platforms for the U.S. intelligence community for counter-terrorism investigations and operations. The plaintiffs claim that between February 2021 and May 2022, the defendants consistently claimed "geopolitical instability" such as armed conflicts, economic crises and the COVID-19 pandemic "as tailwinds for its business."
They allege the defendants made false and misleading statements about the company's operations and prospects including its investments in marketable securities and overstated its government segment growth and revenues. The plaintiffs further allege that the defendants artificially inflated the market price of Palantir securities, which led its stock price to fall 21.3% and close at $7.46 per share on May 9.
They also allege an article in The Motley Fool published on May 9 stated the company's stock drop "was a surprise to investors" because the company was expected to see higher demand for its defense-focused data services because of the war in Ukraine. They claim the defendants' actions caused them to suffer significant losses and damages.
The plaintiffs seek monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by Rusty Glenn of Shuman, Glenn & Associates and Daniel Berger and Caitlin Moyna of Grant & Eisenhofer PA in New York.
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado case number 1:22-CV-02805-SKC