Infosys Subject of Class Action Lawsuits

Brendan W. Clark ’21

Editor-in-Chief

Deadlines for an amended complaint and lead counsel were appointed in one of several class action lawsuits against Infosys, Ltd. (NYSE: INFY) in a case filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. According to Business Wire, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, LLP, were “appointed lead counsel for plaintiffs in a class action brought on behalf of purchasers of Infosys Ltd. securities…for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”  

Infosys, a major technology and innovation-driven firm based in Bangalore, India, formed a partnership with Trinity in September 2018 after opening a hub in Hartford, along with other higher education institutions across the United States.  

According to Business Wire, the deadline for the amended complaint has been set for Mar. 27, 2020. Robbins Geller, on behalf of the plaintiffs, alleges that Infosys “made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding its [Infosys’] business and financial results.” The Hindu Business Line also indicated that separate class action suits have been brought with the Robbins Geller case from the Schall Law Firm of Los Angeles in December and the Rosen Law Firm in October.  

The “class period” of the Schall suit encompasses those who purchased Infosys securities between “July 7, 2018 and October 20, 2019,” according to a separate article in the Wall Street Journal. The Journal also reported that Infosys “made false and misleading statements to the market” and that CEO Salil Parekh “skipped standard reviews of large deals to avoid accounting scrutiny.” The Schall complaint also alleges attempts by the “Company’s finance team…[to] hide details of these deals and other accounting matters from auditors and the Company’s Board of Directors,” reported the Journal. These allegations are similar to those in the Robins Geller suit and the Rosen suit.  

Infosys has been the subject of several additional lawsuits concerning employee visas since June 2019. In November, one case settled after “allegations of non-payment of payroll taxes for some employees” were brought in the state of California, according to the Business Standard. The settlement, for $800,000, resulted from a 2017 investigation commenced by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra relative to violating the state’s visa tax-reporting requirements and immigration tax policies, reported the Standard.  

An attorney for Infosys, Sajai Singh of J. Sagar Associates, indicated that the company “will use all defences [sic] to defend it.” Singh further told Business Line that, with respect to the Schall case and others, “at this point, it cannot be assumed that Infosys stands to lose millions of dollars because of these class action lawsuits.”