Allegations
(1) Defendant Paolo Rocca, Ternium’s Chairman, knew that one of his company’s executives paid cash to government officials from 2009 to 2012 to expedite compensation payments for the sale of Ternium’s Sidor unit; (2) this conduct would lead Rocca to be charged in a graft scheme and subject Ternium, its affiliates, and/or its executives to heightened governmental scrutiny; and (3) as a result, Ternium’s public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.
On November 27, 2018, Bloomberg reported that Rocca was indicted for his role in a graft scheme. According to the article, “The judge charged Rocca after the Argentine billionaire testified that one of his company’s executives paid an undisclosed amount of cash to government officials in monthly installments from 2009 to 2012. The officials were allegedly working for then-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s administration to speed up a compensation payment from Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez for the nationalization of Sidor, a unit that had been seized by Venezuela. Rocca’s group was compensated with $1.95 billion for the unit.”