Alibaba must face renewed lawsuit over IPO: U.S. appeals court

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court revived a lawsuit accusing Alibaba Group Holding Ltd of defrauding shareholders by concealing a regulatory warning prior to its initial public offering about its ability to suppress counterfeiting on its websites.

The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Tuesday said a lower court judge erred in dismissing the complaint by holders of Alibaba’s American Depositary Shares and call options to buy those shares.

Shareholders claimed that Alibaba concealed a meeting on July 16, 2014, two months before the Chinese e-commerce company’s IPO, in which China’s powerful State Administration for Industry and Commerce threatened big fines if counterfeiting continued.