Scott+Scott begins trial on allegations that Armistice and two executives schemed to fraudulently mislead investors, reaping $250 million in profits
SAN FRANCISCO — Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law, along with co-counsel, began trial today against hedge fund Armistice Capital and its two executives, Steven Boyd and Keith Maher, who had invested heavily in Vaxart, Inc., a biotechnology company.
The trial will revolve around allegations that defendants orchestrated a pump-and-dump scheme by strong-arming Vaxart’s CEO, Andrei Floroiu, to knowingly issue a false and misleading press release touting Vaxart’s “selection” for Operation Warp Speed, a government program providing massive funding to companies engaging in clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine candidates on human subjects. This press release hyped Vaxart’s stock price, and defendants then cashed out over a quarter of a billion dollars in Vaxart shares at artificially inflated prices.
In reality, Vaxart had merely been invited to participate in a pre-clinical trial of its vaccine on monkeys. When the truth emerged, investors suffered millions of dollars in losses.
The lawsuit, first filed in August 2020 in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California, previously made headlines when the Court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment in full and simultaneously imposed sanctions against defendants for their deletion of text messages crucial to the action.
The case is: In re Vaxart, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 20-cv-05949-VC (N. D. Cal.). Hagens Berman Sobol Shaprio LLP serves as co-counsel. The Scott+Scott team of attorneys includes William C. Fredericks, Jimmy S. McBirney, Jessica M. Casey, and Jeffrey P. Jacobson.