Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee will pay a $ 180 million fine. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has found her guilty of fraud, writes CNBC.
In April, it became known that the company’s COO had faked data on the chain’s sales. He increased the filing figures by $ 310 million. Luckin Coffee itself launched an investigation. An independent review found that the company overestimated the number of goods sold by 69 percent in the third and by 88 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says the company raised about $ 864 million by misreporting its earnings. Luckin Coffee has been called a killer Starbucks because it nearly pushed the famous chain out of the Chinese market in less than in two years.
At the end of September 2019, under the brand of the Chinese chain there were 3,680 coffee shops working this is twice as much as in September 2018. Luckin Coffee held an IPO in May 2019 and became one of the few Chinese companies to successfully place its shares.