A former Super Micro Computer strategy director is pressing ahead with allegations the hardware manufacturer retaliated and ultimately fired him for reporting what he believed to be accounting improprieties and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violations.
Lawyers for Bob K. Luong filed a motion on Tuesday to lift a previous stay so an amended whistleblower complaint against Super Micro and its CEO, Charles Liang, can be filed and potentially proceed in federal court. Luong is alleging the company improperly recognized millions in revenue before actually delivering goods to customers and purposely shipped equipment with missing parts to make its financials appear in better shape than they were. Luong also alleged the CEO’s wife and Super Micro cofounder, Sara Liu Liang, along with her brother Edmond Liu, negotiated with the CEO of a business partner, Compuware, to delay payments and adjust terms of sale—while still allowing for early recognition of revenue. (The CEO of Compuware is Charles Liang’s brother, Bill Liang. Compuware is a distributor for Super Micro in Taiwan, China, and Australia, and Super Micro outsources power design and manufacturing to Compuware.)
In his lawsuit, Luong said he tried repeatedly for years to get the company to investigate its accounting practices as well as certain employees before he finally filed an internal complaint in March 2022. Luong claimed he was brushed off and placed on unpaid leave before eventually being fired in April 2023.
Super Micro has denied Luong’s allegations and declined to comment. According to court documents, Super Micro alleged human resources got a complaint that Luong had engaged in abusive bullying of two of his direct reports in July 2022. The company alleged Luong refused to participate in its investigation of him, which is why he was put on administrative leave. Super Micro claimed its investigation found “sufficient evidence” to make findings about Luong’s treatment of other employees, including yelling, cursing, and rude behavior. Super Micro wrote in a court filing that Luong was also routinely absent from work and skipped meetings.
An attorney for Luong, Tanya Gomerman, said the company essentially fired him for not cooperating in an investigation into a subordinate, but what Luong had requested was for the chief financial officer to be present when he was interviewed. “They described Bob as being essentially a my-way-or-the-highway, bad manager type of person who wouldn’t agree to do things—but those were things he believed were illegal,” said Gomerman.
