Corporate & Securities Blog

On June 10, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a securities class action after finding the plaintiff sufficiently alleged a real estate investment fund and its managing executive misled investors by exaggerating potential investment returns and failing to disclose a SEC staff comment letter that instructed the fund to remove the overstated projections from its offering materials. Notably, the court viewed the fund’s decision to comply with the SEC’s directive and remove exaggerated projections as evidence that the fund and its manager knew the projections were false. The court’s decision in Pino v. Cardone Capital, LLC provides cautionary guidance regarding the legal significance of SEC comments—namely, that a company’s failure to dispute a comment letter could be construed as an implicit admission of falsity, potentially exposing it to liability under Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Act”).