Securities Class Action Lawsuit Vs. Seagate by Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann

Investor rights law firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (BLB&G) filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging violations of federal securities laws by Seagate Technology Holdings plc and certain of the company’s senior executives (collectively defendants).

The action is brought on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Seagate common stock between September 15, 2020 and October 25, 2022, inclusive. The complaint expands the allegations that were asserted in a previously filed related securities class action pending against Seagate captioned UA Local 38 Defined Contribution Pension Plan vs. Seagate Technology Holdings plc, No. 3:23-cv-03431 (N.D. Cal.).

BLB&G filed this action on behalf of its client, the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, and the case is captioned Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi vs. Seagate Technology Holdings plc, No. 23-cv-3711 (N.D. Cal.). The complaint is based on an extensive investigation and a careful evaluation of the merits of this case.

Seagate’s Alleged Fraud
Headquartered in Fremont, CA, Seagate is a provider of storage technology and infrastructure solutions. Among other things, it manufactures and designs mass-capacity HDDs which contain sensitive U.S. semiconductor components.

On May 16, 2019, telecom company Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. was added to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) Entity List, following a determination that the administration had deemed Huawei a threat to national security. Huawei’s designation on the Entity List meant that companies manufacturing products containing certain U.S.-origin components that were subject to the Export Administration Regulations were required to obtain a special license from IS for the export, reexport, and transfer of all such products, where Huawei or any of its affiliates were end users in the transaction. In August of 2020, BIS amended its restrictions to “narrowly and strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.”

The complaint alleges that throughout the class period, Seagate repeatedly assured investors that the company was in compliance with all U.S. export control and sanctions laws. It maintained that its HDDs were not subject to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s sanctions vs. Huawei, even as its only competitors, Western Digital and Toshiba, had ceased HDD sales to Huawei to comply with the sanctions. Seagate also reported significant growth in HDD sales, which it attributed to significant and growing demand for HDDs and other legitimate business factors. These misrepresentations caused the price of Seagate common stock to trade at artificially inflated prices throughout the class period.

The truth emerged through a series of disclosures beginning on October 26, 2021, when a group of U.S. senators from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation released a report urging BIS to take action vs. Seagate for its illicit sales to Huawei. In response, Seagate announced that it had ceased HDD sales to Huawei. Throughout 2022, it repeatedly reported earnings that were below expectations and lowered revenue and earnings guidance, which the company attributed to “disruption in the Chinese market” and lower demand in China.

Then, on October 26, 2022, Seagate announced that it had received a Proposed Charging Letter from BIS alleging violations of the U.S. export controls and sanctions laws. That same day, it reported that its HDD sales had plummeted by 26% for its fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2022. These disclosures caused the price of its common stock to decline by $4.61 per share, or nearly 8%.

Then, after the end of the class period, on April 19, 2023, BIS announced that it had imposed a $300 million civil penalty vs. Seagate for violating the ban on HDD sales to Huawei – the largest standalone administrative resolution in the agency’s history. According to the order that BIS issued imposing the civil penalty, through its investigation BIS determined that between August 2020 and September 2021, Seagate sold 7.4 million HDDs to Huawei, which were valued at more than $1.1 billion.