Former CFO of Tattooed Chef Secures Complete Dismissal in Securities Fraud Case

Secured a complete dismissal of a securities fraud class action on behalf of the former CFO of Tattooed Chef. After a prior round of motion practice, on June 9, 2025, the district court granted our motion and dismissed our client with prejudice.

After listing on Nasdaq through a SPAC transaction, Tattooed Chef (TTCF), a plant-based food company, announced expansion plans to launch Tattooed Chef branded frozen food products into grocery stores.  In the First Amended Complaint, plaintiffs alleged that our client resigned due to a disagreement regarding how to account for slotting fees for product shelf placement.  More than a year later, Tattooed Chef restated financial statements issued after our client’s resignation for, among other things, accounting errors relating to slotting fees. Plaintiffs challenged financial statements, projections, and other public statements as misleading due to a purported plan to improperly account for slotting fees to artificially boost revenues.

Ruling on our motion to dismiss the First Amended Complaint, the Court agreed with that our client could not have scienter to commit securities fraud because plaintiffs alleged he resigned in a “stand on principles.” Plaintiffs deleted from the Second Amended Complaint the allegation regarding our client’s reason for his resignation. Still, in its June 9 Order, the Court again agreed that plaintiffs had not alleged facts supporting that our client had the required scienter to commit securities fraud.  Although the case will continue against certain other defendants, the Court dismissed our client with prejudice. The case is Mihaylov, et al., v. Tattooed Chef, Inc., et al. (U.S. Dist. Ct., C.D. Cal.).