Item 1. Legal Proceedings
Item 1.
Legal Proceedings.
The Sponsor and the Trust are named as defendants in the following purported class action lawsuits filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on the following dates: (i) on January 29, 2019 and captioned Ford v. ProShares Trust II et al.; (ii) on February 27, 2019 and captioned Bittner v. ProShares Trust II, et al.; and (iii) on March 1, 2019 and captioned Mareno v. ProShares Trust II, et al. The allegations in the complaints are substantially the same, namely that the defendants violated Sections 11 and 15 of the 1933 Act, Sections 10(b) and 20(a) and Rule 10b-5
of the 1934 Act, and Items 303 and 105 of Regulation S-K,
17 C.F.R. Section 229.303(a)(3)(ii), 229.105 by issuing untrue statements of material fact and omitting material facts in the prospectus for ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, and allegedly failing to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading. Certain Principals of the Sponsor and Officers of the Trust are also defendants in the actions, along with a number of others. The District Court consolidated the three actions and appointed lead plaintiffs and lead counsel. On January 3, 2020, the District Court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the consolidated class action in its entirety and ordered the case closed. On January 31, 2020, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. On March 4, 2021, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument. On March 15, 2021, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found the plaintiffs’ arguments to be without merit and affirmed the District Court’s judgement.
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