AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Investor Securities Class Action Lawsuit 02/13/2018
An investor in shares of AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by AFLAC Incorporated in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between February 27, 2013 and January 11, 2018.
Columbus, GA based Aflac Incorporated is a business holding company that is involved in supplemental health and life insurance, which is marketed and administered through its subsidiary, American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac). AFLAC Incorporated reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from over $21.02 billion in 2015 to over $22.64 billion in 2016 and that its Net Income increased from over $2.53 billion in 2015 to over $2.65 billion in 2016. Shares of AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) grew from $56.61 per share in January 2016 to as high as $91.69 per share on January 11, 2018.
On January 11, 2018, an article was published entitled "Behind the Duck: Former Aflac Employees Allege Fraud and Abuse in Nearly Every Aspect of Company." Citing "interviews with multiple current and former employees, as well as three previously unreported lawsuits," the article reported that "Aflac has exploited workers, manipulated its accounting, and deceived shareholders and customers." Among other issues, the article described "employees under pressure to meet sales goals selling policies without customer authorization or consent, illegally 'bundling' policies, and issuing others to ineligible customers"; the Company's "[m]assaging of key operational metrics to prove company growth to investors"; "[e]arnings statement manipulation, by moving sales earned in certain weeks into different quarters to hit numbers"; and "[r]etaliation against whistleblowers".
Shares of AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) declined on January 12, 2018 to as low as $83.70 per share. On January 12, 2018, AFLAC Incorporated issued a statement regarding the allegations and said they contain false allegations made by a very small group of independent contractors and that AFLAC Incorporated intends to aggressively fight these allegations beginning
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) common shares between February 27, 2013 and January 11, 2018, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between February 27, 2013 and January 11, 2018, the Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that Aflac hired its sales associates under false promises of high compensation packages and work-life-balance, that Aflac misclassified its employees as independent contractors to reduce costs associated with unemployment insurance taxes and employment benefits, that Aflac manipulated its average weekly producer equivalent metric to fabricate growth, that consequently, Aflac violated its Code of Conduct and corporate social responsibility standards, and that as a result of the foregoing, Aflac’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.