San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York is being accused of covering up an online college exam cheating scandal as well as insider trading while he was a board member for the online educational company Chegg Inc.

Two shareholders filed lawsuits against York and other members of the board, claiming they covered up the cheating scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic, per the San Francisco Chronicle. 

“Chegging,” as it has been called, was the term used for the scheme that allowed college students to find answers to test questions using Chegg’s services. The lawsuit claimed that the Chegg board gave false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when the cheating scandal had been discovered. 

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The lawsuit added that the Chegg board kept the scandal going despite knowing about it. 

The company’s stock at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic skyrocketed, as online classes became the new normal with colleges needing virtual classrooms to continue educating. Yahoo Finance had Chegg’s stock price as high as $113.96 on Feb. 8, 2021, before falling mightily. The share hasn’t reached at least $30 per share since April 2022. 

The insider trading claim, then, stems from the soaring share price during the pandemic. York, as well as Chegg CEO Dan Rosenweig, have been accused of selling off Chegg stock at its top market price prior to the scandal being revealed. 

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Investors in Chegg were not informed of the crash that was inbound.

“York engaged in insider sales before the fraud was exposed,” the lawsuit claims, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “As a trusted member of the board, [York] conducted little, if any, oversight of Chegg’s engagement in… the cheating misconduct. 

“His insider sales demonstrate his motive in facilitating and participating in the scheme.”

The lawsuit adds that York made $1.4 million after selling 20,000 shares of the company. 

“The recent secuirities-related lawsuits against Chegg, and in certain cases its board of directors, are without merit and Chegg is vigorously defending itself,” a company spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle in a statement. “Chegg takes academic integrity very seriously and has invested significant resources to protect it. Chegg has been helping millions of students learn and thrive for many years, including during the pandemic, creating a transformative digital learning platform to improve outcomes.”

The San Francisco 49ers did not immediately answer a request to comment to Fox News Digital, though spokesperson Brian Brokaw told the San Francisco Chronicle that “the 49ers are proud of the work we accomplished with Chegg to provide scholarships for first-generation students.”

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The 49ers partnered with Chegg to award $100,000 in scholarships to first-generation college students in the Bay Area in 2019. 

York is the son of John York and Denise DeBartolo York, the owners of the 49ers. He initially served as the team’s vice president in 2005, and has been with the organization ever since, rising the ranks to president and CEO in 2008 when his parents moved to co-chairs. 

York joined Chegg’s board in 2013. 

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Consumer prices came in as expected today, as inflation continues to soften from a 9% peak last year. Actually, topline inflation came in at 3.2% versus July a year ago, a slight increase from the 3% registered in June.

The so-called core rate, excluding food and energy, is still running 4.7% ahead of last year. Food and beverage prices are up 4.8% versus a year ago and groceries are up 3.6%. So, inflation is still sticky and stubborn, but a lot lower.

The level of consumer prices still up roughly 16% over the course of Joe Biden’s administration. That’s the level of prices, which seldom comes down. It’s led by energy and food. In recent months, we’ve had a rest from energy prices, but those may be turning back up, with AAA nationwide gasoline heading toward $4 a gallon.

Joe Biden is out there on the campaign trail telling us he created 13 million new jobs, but no humanoid can substantiate that number since it has to be adjusted for returning COVID jobs. Once you add that to the mix, he really hasn’t created hardly any new jobs at all, but I don’t want to upset him.

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Manufacturing and housing are in a big slump right now, and I know Wall Street says this time it’s going to be different, but once again I will point to the deeply inverted yield curve, which is upside down, with short rates much higher than long rates in the Treasury market. That indicates credit crunch potential and the New York Fed yield curve model is showing a 65% probability of a recession in the next twelve months.

Also, bank stocks – a leading indicator of the economy – are down 23% over the past six months, another warning sign and, I will just say, over the past six quarters or 18 months, real GDP has grown at a paltry 1.3% average pace, including two negative quarters in the first half of last year, which was Joe Biden’s first full year in office. 

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The only supply-side source of growth comes from the lingering Trump tax cuts. Though Biden is doing his best to repeal them. Other than that, the Biden regulatory assault on business, along with continued overspending and of course the war against fossil fuels, have all set the stage for a continuation of what Democrat economist Larry Summers years ago called “secular stagnation,” which I don’t like one bit and I don’t think America’s buying it.

That’s why Biden’s economic polls are so incredibly low. A recession next year will sink Mr. Biden and his Democratic Party. That is, if they haven’t already dug their own deep grave of corruption and that’s my riff.

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the August 10, 2023, edition of “Kudlow.”  

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