XML 33 R18.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.20.2
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS  
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

NOTE 9 — SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

UNG has performed an evaluation of subsequent events through the date the condensed financial statements were issued. This evaluation did not result in any subsequent events that necessitated disclosures and/or adjustments, other than the following:

USCF was named as a defendant in a putative stockholder class action on July 10, 2020 by Momo Wang, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, against defendants United States Oil Fund, LP (“USO”), USCF, John P. Love, Stuart P. Crumbaugh, Nicholas D. Gerber, Andrew F. Ngim, Robert L. Nguyen, Peter M. Robinson, Gordon L. Ellis, Malcolm R. Fobes III, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Market Inc., Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs & Company, JP Morgan Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., Morgan Stanley & Company Inc., Nomura Securities International Inc., RBC Capital Markets LLC, SG Americas Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Virtu Financial BD LLC.

The putative class action complaint alleged that beginning in March 2020, in connection with USO's registration and issuance of additional USO shares, defendants failed to disclose to investors certain extraordinary market conditions and the attendant risks that caused the demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. The plaintiff alleged that defendants possessed inside knowledge about the consequences of these converging adverse events on USO and did not sufficiently acknowledge them until late April and May 2020, after USO suffered losses and was allegedly forced to abandon its investment strategy. The putative stockholder class action was pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California as Case No. 3:20-cv-4596 but was voluntarily dismissed effective August 4, 2020.

USCF was named as a defendant in a purported stockholder class action on July 31, 2020 by Moshe Ephrati, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, against defendants USCF, USO, John P. Love and Stuart P. Crumbaugh. The stockholder class action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-06010.

The putative class action complaint alleges that beginning in March 2020, in connection with USO's registration and issuance of additional USO shares, defendants failed to disclose to investors certain extraordinary market conditions and the attendant risks that caused the demand for oil to fall precipitously, including the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war. Plaintiff alleges that defendants possessed inside knowledge about the consequences of these converging adverse events on USO and did not sufficiently acknowledge them until late April and May 2020, after USO suffered losses and was allegedly forced to abandon its investment strategy. The complaint seeks to certify a class and award the class compensatory damages at an amount to be determined at trial. Since this stockholder class action makes the same substantive claims made against the same defendants in the stockholder class action commenced by Robert Lucas on June 19, 2020, which is summarized above in “Part II. Other Information - Item 1. Legal Proceedings,” and is also pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-04740, it is expected that these two stockholder class actions will be consolidated. The defendants intend to vigorously contest the claims and move for their dismissal.

USCF may have additional actions filed against it based on similar allegations as those that were made in the putative class actions that have been reported.