LAUREATE EDUCATION, INC. 10-Q

Item 1. Legal Proceedings Please refer to “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 (our “2019 Form 10-K”) and Part II, “Item 1. Legal Proceedings” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 (our “Q1 2020 Form 10-Q”) for information regarding material pending legal proceedings. Except as set forth therein and below, there have been no new material legal proceedings and no material developments in the legal proceedings previously disclosed. As previously disclosed in our 2019 Form 10-K, on December 6, 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (“OSHA”) dismissed a complaint made by Michael S. Ryan, the former chief accounting officer of the Company, alleging retaliatory employment practices in violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Michael S. Ryan vs. Laureate Education, Inc., Case No. 3-0050-17-011). On January 2, 2020, Mr. Ryan filed Objections to the Secretary’s Findings, and Request for Hearing Before an Administrative Law Judge with the Chief Administrative Law Judge and a hearing has been set for September 2020. On March 2, 2020, the Company filed a Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative, Motion to Limit Issues for Hearing. Mr. Ryan filed a Response to the Company’s Motion to Dismiss on June 5, 2020 (the “Response to Motion to Dismiss”). Mr. Ryan’s complaint to OSHA, which was filed on November 16, 2016, also alleges a lack of compliance with U.S. GAAP and violations of certain SEC rules and regulations. The complaint does not seek any specified amount of damages. The Company has investigated the allegations made in the complaint with the assistance of outside legal and accounting advisers and believes that its consolidated financial statements are in compliance with U.S. GAAP and SEC rules and regulations in all material respects and that the allegations are baseless and without merit. The Company currently is assessing any further response to the Response to Motion to Dismiss. The Company intends to continue to defend itself vigorously. As previously disclosed in our 2019 Form 10-K, on September 11, 2019, the People’s Court of Tianxin District, Changsha City, in the People’s Republic of China issued a Notice of Assistance in Enforcement addressed to Lei Lie Ying Limited, a private limited company formerly indirectly owned by us (“LEILY”), and HIEU requesting that (i) Zhang Jianbo and Chen Zhengxiani’s alleged rights in certain land owned by HIEU be frozen, (ii) such land be disposed of instead pursuant to the terms of a series of agreements allegedly entered into in 2009 and (iii) the proceeds thereof be deposited with the court pending final resolution of the dispute. This case was dismissed during the second quarter of 2020, and the decision is considered final.