This is a class action brought under the Exchange Act on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded Tattooed Chef securities between March 20, 2021 and October 12, 2022 (the “Class Period”). ¶ 1.1 Tattooed Chef is a food company selling plant-based products in the frozen food sections of national retail food stores across the United States, as well as on its e-commerce site. ¶ 7. Tattooed Chef also provides chef-created products to consumers. Id. Co-founded by defendant Salvatore Galletti in 2017, Tattooed Chef is headquartered in Paramount, California.

The complaint alleges that Tattooed Chef, its Chief Executive Officer, Galletti, and its Chief Financial Officer, defendant Stephanie Dieckmann issued false and misleading statements in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) during the Class Period. ¶¶ 16–30. Specifically, in Tattooed Chef’s March 19, 2021 Form 10K, May 18, 2021 Form 10-Q, August 16, 2021 Form 10-Q, November 22, 2021 Form 10-Q, and March 16, 2022 Form 10-K, defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that:
• Tattooed Chef continuously downplayed its serious issues with internal controls;
• Tattooed Chef’s financial statements from March 31, 2021 to the present included “certain errors” such as overstating revenue and understating losses;
• as a result, Tattooed Chef would need to restate its previously filed financial statements for certain periods; and
• as a result, Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times (¶ 30).
On October 12, 2022, after market hours, Tattooed Chef announced that it would restate its financial statements from March 31, 2021 to the present, and revealed for the first time that the revenues reported in its SEC filings referenced above were overstated by millions of dollars. ¶ 31. Tattooed Chef also filed a Form 8-K with the SEC revealing that it lacked adequate internal controls, and that its financial statements in the SEC filings referenced above should no longer be relied upon. ¶ 32.

On this news, Tattooed Chef’s share price fell $0.44 per share (or 9.8%) from its closing price on October 12, 2022 to open on October 13, 2022 at $4.05 per share. ¶ 33. As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of Tattooed Chef’s common shares, the class members have suffered significant losses and damages.
Based on these allegations, the complaint asserts claims under Section 10(b) and Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. ¶¶ 44–58.