San Francisco – September 10, 2026 -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP has filed a securities fraud class action against Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA), alleging the company concealed ties to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and engaged in unauthorized AI model theft. The case, Wistisen v. Alibaba Group Holding Limited, et al., No. 1:26-cv-06654, is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Lawsuit alleges Alibaba misrepresented its MIIT affiliation under NDAA rules
The complaint claims Alibaba and certain executives failed to disclose that the company was directly or indirectly controlled by or affiliated with MIIT, which under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) classifies affiliated entities as Chinese military companies. Plaintiffs allege Alibaba also concealed an ongoing risk of conducting distillation attacks against third-party AI models, rather than treating it as hypothetical.
Pentagon added Alibaba to military company list on June 8, 2026
The U.S. Department of Defense added Alibaba to its list of Chinese military companies under the NDAA due to its MIIT ties. Alibaba ADSs fell $4.69 per share, or 3.9%, over two trading sessions following the disclosure.
Anthropic alerted U.S. officials to alleged fake-account AI theft on June 24, 2026
Bloomberg reported that Anthropic notified U.S. officials that Alibaba fraudulently accessed Anthropic's Claude AI models through thousands of fake accounts to execute unauthorized "distillation" attacks aimed at training its own models. On this news, Alibaba ADSs dropped $4.73 per share, or 4.7%, closing at $95.07 on June 25, 2026.
Class period spans June 26, 2025 through June 24, 2026
Investors who purchased or acquired Alibaba securities during this period and suffered significant losses have until October 5, 2026, to seek appointment as lead plaintiff. Lead plaintiff status is not required to share in any potential recovery.
Firm's investigation targets alleged concealment of regulatory and operational risk
"We are investigating whether Alibaba executives intentionally concealed the company's regulatory ties and engaged in fraudulent operational practices to mislead the market about its true risk profile and competitive position,