Shareholders Foundation, Inc.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) Investor Alert: Lawsuit Alleges Securities Laws Violations

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of investors in TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) shares over alleged securities laws violations.

 

San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/23/2022 -- An investor, who purchased shares of TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL), filed a lawsuit in the U.S. over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by TAL Education Group.

Investors who purchased shares of TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL) have certain options and for certain investors are short and strict deadlines running. Deadline: April 5, 2022. NYSE: TAL investors should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

From March 4, 2021 through March 11, 2021, China held its annual "Two Sessions" parliamentary meetings. Media reports stated that attendees of the ongoing Two Sessions conference had proposed "stricter regulations" to rein in the online education industry, such as regulations aimed at enhancing teacher quality, limiting fee scams, reducing market "abuse" by large players like TAL Education Group, and reducing the stress that for-profit tutoring companies had placed on students in the Chinese educational system.

On May 12, 2021, news reports revealed that the impending government crackdown on for-profit tutoring companies in China would be much more drastic and far reaching than previously publicly known. Sources stated that anticipated rules would include measures such as banning on-campus tutoring classes, the provision of tutoring services during weekend hours, and the imposition of industry-wide fee limitations.

Thereafter, on June 1, 2021, Chinese regulators announced they had fined 15 off-campus training institutions, including TAL Education Group, for illegal activities such as false advertising and fraud. Among the violations by the 15 offenders were reportedly fabricating teacher qualifications, exaggerating the effects of training, and fabricating user reviews. The regulators gave examples of how TAL Education's subsidiary, Xueersi, had advertised false parent user reviews in Beijing and Shanghai. The offending companies, including TAL Education Group, were hit with maximum penalties for their illegal business practices, totaling a combined 36.5 million yuan ($5.73 million). Officials stated that the crackdown on the for-profit tutoring industry had grown out of the Two Sessions parliamentary meetings held earlier in the year and followed a deluge of complaints against bad industry actors, including 155,000 complaints and reports for education and training services received by authorities in 2020 alone and over 47,000 similar complaints and reports received by authorities in the first quarter of 2021. In addition to the issues outlined above, TAL Education was reportedly found to have: (i) forced students to pay hefty advances and take on recurring debt payments in violation of Chinese law; (ii) offered courses that gave students unfair advantages in contravention of Chinese government policies; (iii) engaged in illegal bait-and-switch tactics; (iv) misrepresented teacher qualifications and course qualities; (v) mishandled user data; and (vi) rigged promotional events to defraud consumers. On this news, the price of TAL Education ADSs dropped approximately 18% over a two-day period.

Finally, on July 23, 2021, China unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital, or going public. This drastic measure effectively ended any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China.

Shares of TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL) declined from over $90 per share in February 2021, to as low as $4.58 per share on August 23, 2021.

The plaintiff claims that between April 26, 2018 and July 22, 2021, the defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that TAL Education's revenue and operational growth was the result of deceptive marketing tactics and illicit business practices that flouted Chinese laws, regulations, and policies, and exposed TAL Education to an extreme risk that more draconian measures would be imposed on TAL Education, that TAL Education had engaged in misleading and fraudulent advertising practices, including the provision of false and misleading discount information designed to obfuscate the true cost of TAL Education's programs to its customers, the creation of fake customer reviews designed to fraudulently lure new customers to TAL Education programs, the misrepresentation of teacher qualifications and course qualities, and the marketing of rigged promotional events, that TAL Education had defied Chinese policies designed to alleviate the burden imposed by tutoring services on students and their families, including by imposing hefty advances and recurring debt payments on course enrollees, by offering courses designed to give affluent students unfair advantages, by holding courses outside of allowable tutoring hours, and by linking for-profit courses to government-mandated schooling, that as a result, TAL Education was subject to an extreme undisclosed risk of adverse enforcement actions, regulatory fines, and penalties, and the imposition of new rules and regulations adverse to TAL Education's business and financial interests, and that consequently, TAL Education's historical growth was not sustainable or the result of legitimate business tactics as represented, and defendants' positive statements about TAL Education's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and lacked a reasonable factual basis.

Those who purchased shares of TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL) have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Michael Daniels
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com

About Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is a professional portfolio monitoring and settlement claim filing service, , which does research related to shareholder issues and informs investors of securities class actions, settlements, judgments, and other legal related news to the stock/financial market. Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is in contact with a large number of shareholders and offers help, support, and assistance for every shareholder. The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is not a law firm. Referenced cases, investigation, and/or settlements are not filed/reached and/or related to Shareholders Foundation. The information is provided as a public service. It is not intended as legal advice and should not be relied upon.