Remember Luckin Coffee Stock? China’s Viral Coffee Company Is Now in the U.S., and LKNCY Shares Are Up 46% This Year.

It’s been an interesting road for Luckin Coffee (LKNCY). The Chinese-based coffee chain was one of the darlings on Wall Street last decade as it opened hundreds of locations and set its sights on toppling Starbucks (SBUX) as the No. 1 coffee chain in China.

But as quickly as it started, Luckin’s story unraveled. A short-seller’s report accused Luckin of falsifying sales figures, and by 2020, the company acknowledged that an executive had inflated 2019 sales figures by $310 million. Luckin's stock was delisted from the Nasdaq, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposed a $180 million fine. The company filed for bankruptcy.