NEW ORLEANS, June 07, 2019. The law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti (KSF) says it has begun an investigation into XPO Logistics to determine whether the company’s officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.

The inquiry is prompted by a report in December 2018 by Spruce Point Capital Management that declared "concrete evidence to suggest dubious tax accounting, under-reporting of bad debts, phantom income through unaccountable M&A earn-out liabilities, and aggressive amortization assumptions: all designed to portray glowing 'Non-GAAP' results" and "financial irregularities [covering] growing financial strain".

KSF says XPO was subsequently sued in a securities class action lawsuit for failing to disclose material information to shareholders, violating federal securities laws, which is ongoing.

The law firm, whose partners include the former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with M&A acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders.

Last month XPO reported Q1 revenue of US$4.12 billion, down from US$4.19 billion for the same period in 2018. Net income was US$43 million, down from US$67 million year-on-year. The company said the results “were adversely impacted by a reduction in business from the company’s largest customer; foreign currency exchange; higher interest expense year-over-year, partially offset by share repurchase activity; and a higher effective tax rate of 27 percent in 2019, compared with 0 percent in 2018”.