MUMBAI: Eros International Plc has filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court against Mangrove Partners, Manuel P. Asensio, GeoInvesting, LLC, and numerous other individuals and entities.

Eros International Plc, which has an extensive library comprising over 3,000 Hindi, Tamil, and other regional language films, acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants and other co-conspirators disseminated material false, misleading, and defamatory information about Eros and are engaging in other misconduct that has harmed the company. The lawsuit also names various “John Doe” defendants who will be identified and joined as the case unfolds, an Eros press release stated.

The complaint alleges that Mangrove Partners and many, if not all, of its co-conspirators held substantial short positions in Eros stock and profited when its share price declined in response to their multi-year disinformation campaign. Eros seeks damages and injunctive relief for defamation, trade libel, civil conspiracy, and tortious interference, including but not limited to interference with its customers, producers, distributors, investors, and lenders.

The filing of this lawsuit marks another important step in Eros’ vigorous defense of itself and the company’s stakeholders. On 25 September, 2017, Eros also reported that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative securities class action, with prejudice, that was originally filed in November 2015 and arose from a series of baseless accusations that the Eros complaint alleges were disseminated by short sellers.

The company previously announced that it retained Michael J. Bowe, a partner of Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, to investigate and pursue all available legal remedies against those responsible for these blatant attempts at market manipulation. The counsel is continuing its investigation, the release added.