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Coronavirus Class Action Lawsuits: Misleading Shareholders & Investors

Cincinnati, Ohio Securities and Financial Fraud Attorney reviewing plaintiff cases and coronavirus class action lawsuits nationwide related to fraudulent coronavirus statements and misleading claims to investors.


In times of crisis there are still unethical and unlawful public companies taking advantage of consumers and investors. As a result, coronavirus class action lawsuits have already been filed on behalf of financial fraud victims.

One lawsuit has been filed against a cruise line and another against a pharmaceutical company. Plaintiffs allege that the companies misled them, and enticed them to invest in companies, leading to shareholder losses.


Norwegian Cruise Line Lawsuit


A shareholder has filed a securities class action lawsuit against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, alleging false and misleading SEC filings and public statements. The lawsuit filed in Florida has been filed on behalf of shareholders who bought shares from February 20 to March 12, 2020.

Attorneys say a February Norwegian Cruise Line press release gave positive outlooks for the year ahead, “despite the current known impact from the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.”

The cruise line statement added: “While the effect of these impacts cannot be fully quantified at this time, our Company has an exemplary track record of demonstrating its resilience in challenging environments and we remain confident in our ability to deliver strong financial performance over the long-term.”

Cruise line management went on to tout the health and safety procedures it had in place to protect guests and crew. Plaintiffs and lawyers have uncovered a Miami New Times report that leaked emails allegedly showing Norwegian Cruise Line management directed sales staff to lie to customers about the dire outbreak situation.

Joe Lyon is an experienced class action attorney reviewing coronavirus class action lawsuits on behalf of plaintiffs and victims of securities fraud.


Inovio Coronavirus Lawsuit


A second coronavirus class action lawsuit was also filed when an Inovio Pharmaceuticals shareholder sued the company and its CEO for untrue statements about the imminent development of a Covid-19 vaccine. 

The complaint alleges that the Inovio CEO claimed on Fox Business News that Inovio had developed a coronavirus vaccine.  The CEO, Joseph Kim allegedly inferred the vaccine was already developed “in a matter of about three hours once we had the DNA sequence from the virus.”

He went on to claim: “our goal is to start phase one human testing in the US early this summer.” Attorneys say Kim repeated this claim two weeks later and said the plan was to start trials in April.

As a result, Inovio’s share price more than quadrupled, reaching an intra-day high of $19.36, before plummeting around 75 percent when and SEC investigation was announced, and the news broke that all these statements were likely false or misleading.

Inovio later tried to backtrack and said it only had “designed a vaccine construct,” and said it had a “viable approach” to creating a vaccine.


Coronavirus Class Action Lawsuits


Companies and management are making frequent disclosures to investors about how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting their business interests and how the situation is impacting future earnings. The SEC requires public companies to provide investors with insight into their risk assessments resulting from the outbreak and how they plan to address them.

There is a temptation for many companies to paint a rosier picture for investors, though this may be construed as not only unethical but unlawful. Securities fraud lawsuits are likely to follow any misleading or false statement that leads to investor financial losses.


Joe Lyon is a Cincinnati, Ohio class action lawyer reviewing securities fraud and investor fraud lawsuits. Plaintiffs nationwide should contact a lawyer to discuss legal options.

Following large financial losses due to fraudulent company statements, plaintiffs should contact a professional for a free consultation regarding legal options and compensation. The Lyon Firm has years of experience in filing lawsuits following securities violations.

We take pride in representing plaintiffs and holding negligent individuals and companies responsible in class action investor settlements.

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