On September 16, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an order that consolidated the Class Actions under the caption In re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation, No. 20-cv-4740 (PGG), appointed Nutit, A.S. as lead plaintiff, and approved lead counsel. The order also set a schedule for filing any amended or consolidated complaint and briefing on defendants’ anticipated motion(s) to dismiss, which contemplates that briefing will be completed on or before April 15, 2021. Any other related securities class actions filed in, or transferred to, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in the future also will be consolidated into In re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation.
USCF, USO, and the other defendants intend to vigorously contest the claims in In re: United States Oil Fund, LP Securities Litigation and move for their dismissal.
Wang Class Action
On July 10, 2020, purported shareholder Momo Wang filed a putative class action complaint, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, against defendants USO, USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Nicholas D. Gerber, Andrew F. Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm R. Fobes, III, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs & Company, JP Morgan Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., Morgan Stanley & Company Inc., Nomura Securities International Inc., RBC Capital Markets LLC, SG Americas Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Virtu Financial BD LLC, asserting claims under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Wang Class Action”).
The Wang Class Action asserted federal securities claims under the Securities Act of 1933, challenging disclosures in a March 19, 2020 registration statement. It alleged that defendants in the Wang Class Action failed to disclose to investors in USO certain extraordinary market conditions and the attendant risks that caused the demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The putative stockholder class action was pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California as Case No. 3:20-cv-4596 but was voluntarily dismissed on August 4, 2020.
Mehan Action
On August 10, 2020, purported shareholder Darshan Mehan filed a complaint derivatively on behalf of nominal defendant USO, against defendants USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Nicholas D. Gerber, Andrew F Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Gordon L. Ellis, and Malcolm R. Fobes, III (the “Mehan Action”). The action is pending in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Alameda as Case No. RG20070732.
The Mehan Action alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties to USO and failed to act in good faith in connection with a March 19, 2020 registration statement and offering and disclosures regarding certain extraordinary market conditions that caused demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The complaint seeks, on behalf of USO, compensatory damages, restitution, equitable relief, attorney’s fees, and costs.
USCF, USO, and the other defendants intend to vigorously contest such claims and move for their dismissal.
In re United States Oil Fund, LP Derivative Litigation
On August 27, 2020, purported shareholders Michael Cantrell and AML Pharm. Inc. DBA Golden International filed two separate actions derivatively on behalf of nominal defendant USO, against defendants USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Andrew F Ngim, Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm R. Fobes, III, Nicholas D. Gerber, Robert L. Nguyen, and Peter M. Robinson. The Cantrell complaint is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-06974 (the “Cantrell Action”). The AML complaint is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-06981 (the “AML Action”).