Caption: In re Qiwi plc Securities Litigation
Case No.: 20-cv-6054
Jurisdiction: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Judge: Hon. Brian M. Cogan
Summary
On November 16, 2025, Judge Brian M. Cogan granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the second amended complaint. The Court ruled that the operative complaint did not materially improve upon the first amended complaint, which had previously been dismissed for failure to plead any material misstatement or omission and for failure to plead scienter as to any defendant.
Allegations Against Qiwi
Plaintiff Moset International Company brought this putative class action on behalf of purchasers of Qiwi plc American Depository Shares. The complaint alleged that Qiwi plc and certain officers made false and misleading statements and omissions regarding Qiwi’s compliance with Russian banking and payment-system regulations, its handling of anonymous wallets, its exposure to the online betting industry, and the status and implications of Central Bank of Russia oversight and audits.
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
Qiwi plc and the individual defendants moved to dismiss the second amended complaint. They contended that the new pleading suffered from the same defects identified in the Court’s prior dismissal order.
Plaintiffs’ Opposition
Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint after the earlier dismissal. The Court found that the amendments failed to cure the previously identified pleading deficiencies.
Court’s Ruling
The Court granted the motion to dismiss in full. All claims under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 were dismissed, as were the control-person claims under Section 20(a). Leave to amend was denied.
Court’s Rationale
The Court held that the second amended complaint “does not materially improve upon the former” and therefore fails for the same reasons stated in the Court’s September 3, 2023 decision (Kovner, J.).
In that earlier ruling, the Court concluded that plaintiff had failed to plead the existence of any material misstatement or omission and had failed to plead scienter on the part of any defendant.
Because the operative pleading suffers from the identical shortcomings, dismissal followed.
Case Status
The case has been dismissed. Leave to amend was denied.
