January 20, 2021 - An investor in shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Walmart Inc. in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between March 30, 2016 and December 22, 2020.

On December 22, 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Walmart Inc. for its role in the opioid epidemic. According to the DOJ, Walmart Inc. “fill[ed] thousands of invalid prescriptions at its pharmacies and fail[ed] to report suspicious orders of opioids and other drugs placed by those pharmacies.” The suit alleges that managers pressured pharmacists to fulfill orders quickly, as the Company believed this service attracted shoppers and kept them in stores, and that Walmart did little to help pharmacists who raised red flags.

Shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) declined from $153.66 per share on December 1, 2020, to $142.30 per share on December 23, 2020.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) common shares between March 30, 2016 and December 22, 2020, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between March 30, 2016 and December 22, 2020, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that the Company knowingly filled prescriptions that were issued by so-called “pill-mill” prescribers, that the Company filled thousands of prescriptions that showed obvious red flags, including highly-dangerous cocktails of drugs, that the Company’s managers made it difficult for Walmart pharmacists to comply with their legal obligations by pressuring them to fulfill as many orders as possible, that hence, the Company’s pharmacy revenues were inflated because the Company filled thousands of invalid prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substance Act dispensing requirements, that the aforementioned conduct would subject the Company to regulatory scrutiny, and that as a result, Defendants’ statements about Walmart’s business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.