Class Action against EA Executives due to share dumping

Utnayan

Utnayan

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Class-action lawsuit commenced over buggy Battlefield 4, EA calls it [UPDATE] - GameSpot

Majority of news here is that some higher level EA executives are being brought into a class action for dumping shares ahead of Battlefield 4's release.

The complaint itself.

http://www.rgrdlaw.com/media/cases/255_Complaint.pdf

This lawsuit comes from the same organization that handled the Enron case.

Now, we all know EA is unethical as fuck in their gaming practices - BF4 and Simcity were abortion of releases - etc.

TLDR on the legalese is that EA execs are being accused of security exchange violations as well as falsifying information to shareholders regarding Battlefield 4 development, misleading their shareholders on other games, while shifting resources to hurry up and finish a game by it's launch date. (Obviously the results of that we all felt)

Yes, my dick is hard Cinge. Yes, I hope this has huge impacts on the way EA does business. I also hope it brings down the entire fucking organization. Although I will admit I know nothing about law, and the likelihood that my above dreams will ever come true, it is a slight tinge of hope that some of these fuckers that destroy consumer confidence in this industry will finally be held accountable at least in some way shape or form.

In the complaint: The executives made about $13.2 million in fraudulent stock sells while knowingly inflating the success rate of what Battlefield 4 would accomplish knowing the state it shipped in. Hit detection errors, crashes, multiple bugs, etc. (Everything we all experienced)

Burn this company to the ground!
 
eXarc

eXarc

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Honestly, fuck EA. Everyone file suit. Take them for everything they're worth. Motherfuckers.


edit: My EA hatemongering aside, the stunt they pulled with BF4 is legitimate and is complete bullshit. I hope they end up having to pay out.
 
Foggy

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They are going to have a hard time proving anything. Shitty releases are the industry standard, not to mention they sold their shares before the game went gold, how could they know that the bugs wouldn't be fixed?

Don't be excited, this is simply a law firm fishing for money.
 
Vlett

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I doubt anything -legal- will come of this. Even if it does the legal system doesn't really understand the business of gaming and will probably fuck up anything we would expect or need to happen to prevent future situations like this. Although, EA is doing a damn good job at being the best at screwing over their customers.

If anything this will prevent future investors from backing EA or smear the Exe enough loose their positions. Hopefully that would effect them more than this specific suit would anyway. Making these suits public is all smear and gives them time and information EA will use to fight it.
 
Skanda

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If anything EA will settle for a fraction of the lawsuit, the lawyers will make off with 80% of the winnings and all the people who signed onto the class action will be lucky if they see a check that's even worth the hassle of going to the bank and cashing. EA will look contrite for a year or so and then go right back to unabashedly fucking everyone for a few extra pennies.
 
DickTrickle

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Skanda_sl said:
If anything EA will settle for a fraction of the lawsuit, the lawyers will make off with 80% of the winnings and all the people who signed onto the class action will be lucky if they see a check that's even worth the hassle of going to the bank and cashing. EA will look contrite for a year or so and then go right back to unabashedly fucking everyone for a few extra pennies.
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I cashed a $38 check from an EA class action lawsuit yesterday. I don't recall the details of the lawsuit, but hey, that's almost the cost of a new game.
 
Foggy

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Utnayan_sl said:
I would normally think this as well, but it's the same firm that brought down Enron.
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That doesn't mean anything other than they deal with this area of law.

People are also excited that this might change something. EA's business practices aren't really the issue, it is tangential. The issue is whether the execs sold their stock illegally. If they had not sold stocks, there is no cause of action.
 
Penance

Penance

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I think the most we can hope for are industry standards in quality assurance. Even that is a long stretch.
 
Alex

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I got like 33 cents from the Nutella thing a year or so ago. These things are usually a bunch of bullshit.
 
S

Sean_sl

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bixxby_sl said:
so how does this benefit me, the person looking to make free money?
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Probably doesn't. I'm pretty sure the major lawsuits against it are for Shareholders/Investors, not consumers. So unless you're one of those, you probably won't get anything. And if you are one of those, you already lost a lot of money and likely won't see anywhere near what you lost back.

From the PDF of the suit that was linked:

This is a securities class action on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of Electronic Arts between July 24, 2013 and December 4, 2013
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So unless you were one of those people this is all pretty meaningless to you.
 
R

regret_sl

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And as fun as it would be to see all the major publishers burn, if it's just EA then I don't think we'll have made any progress. As if Activision needs to have its position bolstered.
 
Big Phoenix

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Sean_sl said:
Probably doesn't. I'm pretty sure the major lawsuits against it are for Shareholders/Investors, not consumers. So unless you're one of those, you probably won't get anything. And if you are one of those, you already lost a lot of money and likely won't see anywhere near what you lost back.

From the PDF of the suit that was linked:



So unless you were one of those people this is all pretty meaningless to you.
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So why exactly are EA stock holders suing EA? The value of EA stock is up almost 100% YTD. ie sounds like this has zero to do with video games and rules and regulations of corporate suits. I mean if EA was going to get sued and taken to the bank over releasing shitty video games that damage the value of EA stock, it would of been over SimCity.
 
S

Sean_sl

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Big Phoenix_sl said:
So why exactly are EA stock holders suing EA? The value of EA stock is up almost 100% YTD. ie sounds like this has zero to do with video games and rules and regulations of corporate suits. I mean if EA was going to get sued and taken to the bank over releasing shitty video games that damage the value of EA stock, it would of been over SimCity.
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It sounds like most of it has to do with the fact that a bunch of EA people dumped a lot of stuck right before it fell due to the BF4 stuff and what not.
 
Cinge

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Penance_sl said:
I think the most we can hope for are industry standards in quality assurance. Even that is a long stretch.
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You wont get that from this. This has nothing to do with the games themselves, making better games or helping consumers/gamers. This is purely for stockholders to get money along with the lawyers(because if you read about it, the lawyers brought this suit and have to wait for a "plaintiff" to even come forward before they can even try to bring it to court). Really has nothing to do with gaming or gamers, besides who the company is. The title is so misleading from gamespot.

The only thing I can think of is execs knowing about a game and dumping their stock before it comes out thinking its going to drop in price. But that's just going to get the individual in trouble, not the corporation.


And sorry to say UT this doesn't effect nor will it effect how EA does business at all. Since it has nothing to do with their actual business practices or how they release games. It's purely a stock situation.

If a game company could get sued for releasing a known non-finished game there wouldn't be much left of the industry, if any at all.

Should probably move this to general.
 
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