The legal entanglements tied to alleged shady financial practices related to earnings continue to gnaw at Under Armour.

The Washington Post reported that a group of pension retirees and other investors are arguing that their class-action lawsuit against Under Armour should proceed in the wake of the Baltimore-based apparel maker’s recent agreement to pay $9 million in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The settlement came after the SEC accused Under Armour of failing to disclose that it had pulled forward orders from future quarters, which enabled Under Armour to meet Wall Street revenue estimates. The alleged practice occurred for six consecutive quarters starting in the third quarter of 2015, the SEC said. Authorities have not accused Under Armour of engaging in the practice in Q1 2021.

The class-action suit asserts that Under Armour deceived investors through the pull-forward practice, hiding what was actually slowing sales. Furthermore, the suit charges that founder and then-CEO Kevin Plank, who remains executive chairman and brand chief, knew about the practices when he initiated a stock selling plan that saw him net $138 million over a six-month period in which Under Armour was reporting revenue rises – increases allegedly bolstered by the pull-forward practices that ultimately ran afoul of the SEC.

A federal judge initially dismissed the class-action suit in 2019, saying that there wasn’t evidence that Under Armour or its executives intended wrongdoing. But the following year, the case was reopened amid SEC and Justice Department investigations into Under Armour’s accounting methods. Now, Under Armour is again trying to get the suit chucked from court, but the plaintiffs say the SEC settlement and Plank’s stock moves show Under Armour executives meant to benefit from deceptive reporting practices, meaning the case should go forward.

Under Armour says Plank regularly sold shares for years prior to these trades. That's true, but there's also a noticeable break from his quarterly trading pattern during the period in which the SEC alleges misleading statements. Chart by @alyssafowers pic.twitter.com/lbgaC6SYw8

— Doug MacMillan (@dmac1) May 13, 2021

While agreeing to the settlement, Under Armour has neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing. As of this writing, the SEC hadn’t taken – and wasn’t planning to take – enforcement action against Plank or Chief Financial Officer David Bergman.

Still, an SEC official did say in a statement that “Under Armour created a misleading picture of the drivers of its financial results and concealed known uncertainties concerning its business,”  The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Washington Post reported that Under Armour “has argued in court records that there is no evidence it deceived investors and has said Plank’s stock sales followed a regular pattern of trading.” An Under Armour spokesperson and Plank’s attorney denied any wrongdoing on the part of the CEO, in statements to the Post. The attorney said Plank “acted properly and lawfully in all respects. Any suggestion otherwise is unfair and unsupportable.”