A class action lawsuit has been filed against Maison Holdings, the company behind a chain of specialty Asian supermarkets, and its executives. The lawsuit was filed by a group of investors who claim they were misled by the company's Chinese executives. The investors allege that the executives were using the supermarkets as a front to abuse U.S. work visa programs.
The plaintiffs in the case are Rick Green and Evgenia Nikitina, on their behalf and on behalf of all others allegedly similarly situated. They are accusing Maison Solutions Inc., John Xu, Alexandria M. Lopez, Tao Han, Bin Wang, Mark Willis, Xiaoxia Zhang, Joseph Stone Capital LLC, and AC Sunshine Securities LLC of violating federal securities laws.
According to the court filing, Maison Solutions Inc. is accused of potential illegal activities related to the EB-5 visa program. The allegations include using supermarkets as a front to defraud the program and being involved in suspicious trading activities.
The lawsuit follows a significant drop in Maison's stock price which fell 83.6% on Dec. 15, 2023 after Hindenburg Research published a report about Maison alleging several "red flags" concerning potentially illegal activities.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 4 in Los Angeles federal court.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Robert V. Prongay, Charles Linehan and Pavithra Rajesh, of Glancy Prongay & Murray, of Los Angeles.