China-based Luckin Coffee has agreed to a $180 million penalty as part of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges related to the coffee chain’s inflated-sales scandal.
From at least April 2019 through January 2020, Luckin intentionally fabricated approximately $311 million in retail sales transactions “in an effort to falsely appear to achieve rapid growth and increased profitability and to meet the company’s earnings estimates,” according to the SEC’s complaint, filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York.
