ABRUPT EXIT

Former Virgin Galactic Chairman Accused of Insider Sale of Shares Worth $315M

Chamath Palihapitiya allegedly leveraged his position to sell 10M shares before quitting the board last month, a lawsuit claims.

A Virgin Galactic shareholder’s lawsuit against Chamath Palihapitiya alleges that the former chairman of the space tourism company leveraged his position to sell 10 million shares for $315 million before quitting the board last month. Virgin Galactic began trading in 2019 after it merged with Palihapitiya’s Social Capital Hedosophia. The complaint, filed in federal court, alleges that Virgin Galactic directors and officers had long been aware of defects in their spacecraft before the problems became public knowledge last year. The lawsuit also claims that founder Richard Branson nabbed $301 million by ridding himself of his shares while the stock price was “artificially inflated.”