Investors sue Virgin Galactic for stock fraud
Capitalism in space: A federal complaint has been filed against Virgin Galactic, claiming the company made false and misleading reports concerning its financial state.
Investor Shane Levin and other unnamed plaintiffs claim in their complaint that Virgin Galatic CEO Michael Colglazier, former CEO George Whitesides, CFO Doug Ahrens and former CFO Jon Campagna knowingly presented incorrect financial statements to inflate the company’s stock price and entice buyers.
The lawsuit is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages, in addition to legal fees.
Also today an anonymous source claimed that, assuming Virgin Galactic can get FAA approval, the company has suddenly changed its test flight schedule and is now planning to fly Richard Branson on its SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft on July 4th. This would have Branson reach suborbital space about two weeks ahead of Jeff Bezos, who is presently scheduled to fly on a suborbital flight his own New Shepard spacecraft on July 20th.
Branson for almost two decades has promised he would fly on the first commercial operational flight of SpaceShipTwo, while also promising repeatedly that this flight was only months away. All of those promises were bunkum. Now faced with Jeff Bezos grabbing that first flight, Branson is suddenly scrambling to finally get it done, even if it means disrupting Virgin Galactic’s already announced test schedule.
The first story above tells us something about the honesty of Virgin Galactic’s finances. The second story tells us something about the trustworthiness of its management and engineering. I might consider the pace of Blue Origin in the past five years to have been far too slow, but they have at least shown a careful deliberate path to flight. Bezos’ July 20th flight might be a stunt, but it is being done to demonstrate his trust in his product.
Not so much from Branson and Virgin Galactic. For Branson, feeding his ego seems more important.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: A federal complaint has been filed against Virgin Galactic, claiming the company made false and misleading reports concerning its financial state.
Investor Shane Levin and other unnamed plaintiffs claim in their complaint that Virgin Galatic CEO Michael Colglazier, former CEO George Whitesides, CFO Doug Ahrens and former CFO Jon Campagna knowingly presented incorrect financial statements to inflate the company’s stock price and entice buyers.
The lawsuit is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages, in addition to legal fees.
Also today an anonymous source claimed that, assuming Virgin Galactic can get FAA approval, the company has suddenly changed its test flight schedule and is now planning to fly Richard Branson on its SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft on July 4th. This would have Branson reach suborbital space about two weeks ahead of Jeff Bezos, who is presently scheduled to fly on a suborbital flight his own New Shepard spacecraft on July 20th.
Branson for almost two decades has promised he would fly on the first commercial operational flight of SpaceShipTwo, while also promising repeatedly that this flight was only months away. All of those promises were bunkum. Now faced with Jeff Bezos grabbing that first flight, Branson is suddenly scrambling to finally get it done, even if it means disrupting Virgin Galactic’s already announced test schedule.
The first story above tells us something about the honesty of Virgin Galactic’s finances. The second story tells us something about the trustworthiness of its management and engineering. I might consider the pace of Blue Origin in the past five years to have been far too slow, but they have at least shown a careful deliberate path to flight. Bezos’ July 20th flight might be a stunt, but it is being done to demonstrate his trust in his product.
Not so much from Branson and Virgin Galactic. For Branson, feeding his ego seems more important.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I thought Sir Richard was supposed to take his family along on his first joyride. What happened to those plans?
I’m surprised the suit took this long.
About time !
Interesting. Branson sold his personal shares of Virgin Galactic last year for over $500 million. Branson is still the head of the Virgin Group which owns a one third share of this subsidiary – Virgin Galactic.
I know that subsidiaries are created to protect the parent company from liabilities. I guess this is a question for a business lawyer, but can they go after Branson for the past sales of stock if these falsified numbers are true?
What law firm is handling the Class Action Suite against Virgin Galatic and Richard Branson for fraud? I am 76 and have lost over $40,000becasue of the deflated SPCE stock. I want to be of the suite filed by Shane Levin. I am getting no where. I have the case # 21-cv-03070. I keep going down one Rabbit Trail after another.
In the kindness of on of your hearts can you tell me how to find out the Law Firm handling this case of how to contact Shane Levin, it would be well appreciated.
Cordially yours, David NuHavun 315-372-3024…Syracuse, N.Y.
David NuHavun: Some information on the New York lawsuit can be found here\
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-07/judge-says-virgin-galactic-investors-can-continue-branson-suit?leadSource=uverify%20wall
This story involves Kusnier v Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc, 21-cv-3070, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
Information about the Shane Livin lawsuit can be found here:
https://parabolicarc.com/2021/12/19/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-virgin-galactic-alleging-securities-fraud/
It appears you are spelling Shane Lavin’s name wrong, which might be part of your difficulty locating the case. Lavin’s actual complain can be found here [pdf].
It lists the plantiff’s attorneys as:
BRONSTEIN, GEWIRTZ & GROSSMAN, LLC
Peretz Bronstein
60 East 42nd Street, Suite 4600
New York, New York 10165
Telephone: (212) 697-6484