The complaint alleges Defendants engaged in unlawful and unethical conduct. During the Class Period, Defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding Walmart’s practices with respect to unlawful or unethical conduct. Specifically, the Company failed to disclose that its executives had been involved in a multi-million-dollar bribery scheme at Walmart’s Mexican subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico (“Walmart Latin America”). As a result of Defendants’ false statements, Walmart’s stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of $62.48 per share on February 17, 2012.

On April 21, 2012, The New York Times published an article reporting that Walmart had “shut . . . down” an investigation concerning evidence that Walmart Latin America had engaged in “widespread bribery,” which included a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million. The article reported that top executives at Walmart and Walmart Latin America knew about but disregarded the bribery scheme.

As a result of this news, Walmart’s stock plummeted $2.91 per share to close at $59.54 per share on April 23, 2012, a decline of nearly 5% on volume of 38 million shares. The stock dropped again on April 24, 2012, to close at $57.77 per share on volume of 30 million shares, and on April 25, 2012, fell to $57.36 per share on volume of 28 million shares, as investors absorbed this shocking news.

Walmart is now the subject of a probe in Mexico by Mexican authorities and the subject of criminal and congressional investigations in the United States.

According to the complaint, the true facts, which were known by the Defendants but concealed from the investing public during the Class Period, included that the Company had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the bribery payments and that Walmart management did not address ethical concerns in a “timely and effective manner” as represented by Defendants. As a result of Defendants’ false statements, Walmart stock traded at artificially inflated levels during the Class Period. However, after the above revelations seeped into the market, the Company’s shares were hammered by massive sales, sending them down nearly 5% from their Class Period high.

ELIGIBLE SECURITY IDs

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)
B88KGK9; B8N61R4; BVCXR91

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT)
2668644; 2936921; 2937009; 2961280; 5419571; 7152896; 931142103; B0CR309; B11SJG8; B6920N1; US9311421039

Walmart, Inc. (WMT)
BDCCQ28; BF1SN97