Item 1. Legal Proceedings
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
As previously disclosed, U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) commenced an investigation into the Company’s compliance with export control regulations relating to its business transactions with Huawei and its affiliates (“Huawei”), which were added to the “Entity List” by the Department of Commerce (“DOC”) in May 2019. The Company is cooperating fully with federal authorities in the investigation. The Company has continued to respond to inquiries and requests from DOJ for documents and information relating to the investigation, and the matter is currently pending at DOJ. In connection with this investigation, DOC previously requested the Company to suspend shipments of its products to Huawei. The Company complied with such request, and the Company has not shipped any product to Huawei after December 31, 2019. The Company continues to work with DOC to resolve this issue and requested DOC to grant permission to reinstate the Company’s shipments to Huawei. As part of this process and in response to DOC’s request, the Company provided certain documents and materials relating to the Company’s supply chain and shipment process to DOC for its review. DOC has not informed the Company of any specific timeline or schedule under which DOC will provide a response to the Company’s request.
On March 19, 2020, Darryl Gray, a stockholder of the Company (the “Plaintiff”), filed a putative class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Gray Action”), alleging that the Company and its management members made material misstatements or omissions regarding the Company’s business and operations, including its export control practices relating to business transactions with Huawei and its affiliate. The Gray Action asserts claims under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act against the Company, its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (collectively, the Defendants”), as well as claims under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Among other remedies, the Gray Action seeks to recover compensatory and other damages as well as attorney’s fees and costs.
On May 18, 2020, Plaintiff moved for an order appointing him as Lead Plaintiff pursuant to Section 21D of the Exchange Act and approving Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP as Lead Counsel for the putative class (the “Motion”). On July 1, 2020, the Court entered an order granting the Motion and requiring that: (i) Lead Plaintiff file an amended complaint or designate the current complaint as operative within sixty days; (ii) Defendants answer the complaint or otherwise move within sixty days of such filing or designation; (iii) Lead Plaintiff file an opposition, if any, within 45 days; and (iv) Defendants file a reply, if any, forty-five days thereafter. On August 28, 2020, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint asserting the same claims against the Defendants, and adding the Company’s Executive Vice President of Product Line as a defendant on both claims. On October 27, 2020, the Defendants moved to dismiss the action in its entirety. Plaintiff filed his opposition on December 11, 2020 and Defendants filed their reply brief on January 25, 2021. The Company believes the claims in the Gray Action are without merit and intends to vigorously defend this litigation.
We have in the past, and may from time to time in the future, become involved in legal proceedings arising from the normal course of business activities. The semiconductor industry is characterized by frequent claims and litigation, including claims regarding patent and other intellectual property rights as well as improper hiring practices. Irrespective of the validity of such claims, we could incur significant costs in the defense thereof or could suffer adverse effects on our operations.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2020, filed with the SEC on September 2, 2020, contains risk factors identified by the Company. Our operations could also be affected by additional factors that are not presently known to us or by factors that we currently consider immaterial to our business.
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