US visual implant company STAAR Surgical listed on the NASDAQ in 1983. In August 2020, it was targeted by short-seller J-Capital which alleged that 2019 sales in China were overstated by a third. From what we can understand, much of this fake revenue was supposedly offset by fake marketing costs but the remainder inflated profits by US$14m, equal to 100% of reported profit. We think that J-Capital is implying that these fake profits were parked in fake cash balances given comments about low interest income (although this has tended to be a weak fraud indicator). Given that the report failed to prompt any board or auditor resignations, the fraud allegations remain unproven.

Last updated July 2022.

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