Plaintiffs must cite facts that reflect some degree of willful or knowing wrong,” the ruling says. The court also found insolvent the applicant’s arguments about the company’s violations of securities laws.

Litigation between NVIDIA and its investors, which included pension companies and financial funds, began with a class-action lawsuit filed by Ironworkers Local 580 Joint Fund in late 2017. It argued that the manufacturer of graphics chips and video cards in 2017-2018 earned about $ 1.73 billion from the sale of equipment to miners but understated revenues from these sales, which misled investors and shareholders. According to the prosecution, this is how the firm concealed its growing dependence on the cryptocurrency market. As one of the arguments, investors pointed to the drop in the NVIDIA stock price, allegedly associated with the cryptocurrency market collapse by the end of 2018.

During the first trial, the court pointed out the lack of evidence on the prosecution and proposed making changes that would clearly indicate NVIDIA’s guilt. Then the investors turned to economists from the Prysm Group, who, based on the audit results, stated that NVIDIA deliberately attributed $ 1.126 billion of the $ 1.73 billion of earned funds to the gaming sector financial statements. In July 2020, NVIDIA stated that the Prysm Group’s research cited in the lawsuit was based on assumptions and speculation. Lawyers called the accusations unfounded since it is impossible to establish the real purpose of using video cards.

Non-surrendering investors still went to court, enlisting the support of a “secret witness.” Unfortunately for the prosecution, the witness later said that some of the statements attributed to him were ” untrue .” The court nevertheless accepted part of the testimony but ruled that they did not prove NVIDIA’s guilt and did not prove that the company’s management knew that video cards were sold to miners.