Ed Hershewe v. Joyy, Inc.

facts supporting this central claim of fraud. Moreover, the other allegations in the

Muddy Waters Report don’t show that Defendants’ disclosures were materially false

or misleading. For example, the Report describes a promotion in which JOYY

openly created “Platform Angels” to award gifts, encouraging user activity.

Appellants do not explain why this promotional activity is evidence of securities

3 fraud. Thus, Appellants’ securities fraud claims are “merely conclusory,

unwarranted deductions of fact, or unreasonable inferences,” which this court need

not accept. Sprewell, 266 F.3d at 988.

Appellants’ arguments relating to their expert Dr. Knoblock fare no better.

The SAC states that after conducting an “independent review” of the Muddy Waters

Report, Dr. Knoblock found its “data analysis and collection methodology to be

sound and agree[d] with the report’s conclusions.” But this provides little insight

into what conclusory statements in the Report were determined to be true by Dr.

Knoblock when forming his overall assessment. And we agree with the district court

that Dr. Knoblock’s statistical evidence “failed to validate the Report’s conclusions

or establish…