(Yicai Global) Sept. 22 -- Luckin Coffee and over 40 other firms implicated in the Chinese coffeehouse chain’s massive bookkeeping fraud have been slapped with a combined CNY61 million (USD9 million) fine by regulators in China.

Xiamen-based Luckin Coffee and unit Luckin Coffee Beijing falsely inflated the firm’s 2019 sales revenue, costs and profit margins with the help of 43 companies and used the information to deliberately mislead the public, the State Administration for Market Regulation said on its website today.

Luckin Coffee was brought down by a report posted online in January by US short seller Muddy Waters Research accusing it of fraud. The company has since confessed to inflating revenue by as much as CNY2.12 billion (USD312 million) and costs and expenses by CNY1.34 billion last year. Founder and Chief Executive Jenny Qian and Chief Operating Officer Liu Jian were fired in May for the fraud.

Together with the Beijing and Shanghai market supervision authorities, the SAMR is imposing a total fine of CNY61 million, it said, without giving a breakdown of how much each company would be penalized.

Luckin Coffee was booted off the Nasdaq exchange on June 29, ending a 400-day listing, at a stock price of USD1.38, well below its USD17 issue price. 

Editor: Kim Taylor