D.C. Memo: Top Charter Executives Sued over ACP Shutdown Financial Guidance
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Charter: Two senior Charter Communications executives are facing a class action lawsuit. The suit, filed on Aug. 14, alleged securities law violations stemming from company guidance about the financial impact of the May 2024 shutdown of a federal broadband subsidy program for low-income households. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, alleged that CEO Christopher Winfrey and CFO Jessica Fischer made “materially false and misleading statements that conditioned investors to believe the company could manage and reverse the causes of Internet customer declines.” The FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) shut down on May 31, 2024 after running out of full funding to supply $30 monthly Internet discounts to eligible low-income households. The complaint − filed by Shamis & Gentile and Edelsberg Law on behalf of plaintiff Mark Sandoval, who was described only as a Charter shareholder who also bought options − alleged that Winfrey and Fischer “made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that … the impact of the ACP end was a material event the company was unable to manage or promptly move beyond; [and that] the ACP end was actually having a sustaining impact on Internet customer declines and revenue.” The impact, the complaint said, was that Charter’s stock traded “at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period [between July 26, 2024, and July 24, 2025.] Charter – which had about 5 million ACP enrollees – declined to comment. (More after paywall.)
