Objective demanded by Florida for defrauding shareholders about Dei

Target was sued Thursday by the state of Florida for allegedly hiding the risks of diversity and social initiatives that led to a violent reaction from customers and eliminated billions of dollars of the retail market value.

The demand fraud of the State Administration Board of Florida, an agency that supervises the public pension funds that have objective actions, was presented in the Federal Court in Fort Myers, Florida.

It is the first demand of shareholders led by an American State on the alleged poor management of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) of Target.
Florida accused the objective of betraying investors and their main client base of working families by making false and deceiving statements in financial reports and statements of representation about their mandate Dei and the environmental, social and governance mandate.

He also accused Executive President Brian Cornell to minimize the intensity of customer boycots after a “disastrous” and “exceptionally offensive” campaign of May 2023 month of the month of the Pride, prolonging the decrease in the price of the shares of Target

“Corporations that promote the radical leftist ideology at the expense of financial returns endanger the safety of the retirement of the first responders and teachers of Florida,” said James Uthmeier, the State Republican Attorney General, in a statement.

Target did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

The minorist with headquarters in Minneapolis has said in the judicial documents that investors repeatedly warned of the risk of boycott of consumers of their social and environmental initiatives.

The violent reaction of the Pride Month campaign led Target to eliminate some merchandise with LGBTQ themes from the shelves, after the confrontations in the store left some employees fearing for their safety.

The price of the retailer shares has fallen since the removals began, while the price of the shares of his rival Walmart has duplicated approximately.
The price of Target shares has also dropped more than 50% since its November 2021.

That included a 22% drop on November 20, 2024 that eliminated around $ 15.7 billion market value, after the reticist forecast disappointing profits and vacation sales.

On January 24, Target said he will finish the initiatives ofi this year.

He joined Walmart, Amazon.com and many other companies to stop such initiatives, that US President Donald Trump and many other conservatives have attacked.

Florida's demand joins similar class actions presented on January 31 and in August 2023, both also in Fort Myers.

The case is the Administration Board of the State of Florida V Target Corp et al, District Court of the United States, middle district of Florida, No. 25-00135.