Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) Insiders Manipulated the Company to Enable an Aggressive Pump & Dump Scheme

A shareholder filed a class action on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) common stock between March 25, 2022 and August 18, 2022, for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. BBBY operates a nationwide chain of retail stores.  

According to the complaint, defendant Ryan Cohen has a history of employing pump and dump schemes to ignite meme stocks to jaw-dropping heights. In March 2022, Cohen's corporation, RC Ventures LLC, bought a nearly 10% stake in BBBY. Thereafter, BBBY gave Cohen three board seats. For four months, BBBY stock climbed from its lowest price of $4.38 per share on July 1, 2022, to $30.00 per share on August 17, 2022.

On August 16, 2022, Cohen filed a Schedule 13D with the SEC indicating he beneficially owned 9,450,100 shares – approximately 11.8% of the shares outstanding – of BBBY.  However, the Schedule 13D filing was materially false and constitutes a false written filing because Cohen sold most of the 9,450,100 shares when the filing was submitted and intended to create a buying frenzy of BBBY stocks so he could finish selling his shares at an artificially inflated price. Cohen also filed Form 144 on paper providing notice of his intent to sell up to all his shares and additional call options. This filing was not disclosed to the public until the market closed the next day, August 17, 2022, at 5:07 pm, when Cohen finished dumping his BBBY shares. Right after the disclosure of the filing, BBBY shares tumbled after hours from a record high $30.00 per share to around $22.5 per share.

On August 18, 2022, Cohen reported he had sold all his shares of BBBY as of August 16, 2022. On this news, BBBY stock fell 45%. Over the next several days, the stock fell from its August 17 high to close at $8.78 per share on August 23, 2022. The Company lost more than $800 million in market capitalization while insiders profited at least $110 million from their sales on August 16 & 17.

Next Steps: If you acquired shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. between March 25, 2022 and August 18, 2022, you may ask the court to appoint you lead plaintiff for the class.  A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.  You do not have to participate in the case to be eligible for a recovery.  

All representation is on a contingency fee basis. Shareholders pay no fees or expenses.