OPINION & ORDER Plaintiff Anhui Konka Green Lighting Co., Ltd. (“Konka”), a manufacturer and supplier of LED lights, brings this action against Green Logic LED Electrical Supply, Inc. (“GLL”), one of its customers, George Geffen, GLL’s CEO, and Daniel L. Yu, a GLL employee. Konka alleges that GLL breached contracts with Konka by failing to pay amounts owed under purchase orders for LED lights, and that Yu, with Geffen’s knowledge, fabricated GLL affiliates to falsely induce Konka to ship more products to GLL for which GLL never paid. Konka brings claims against GLL for breach of contract, fraud, and quantum meruit, and against Geffen and Yu for fraud. Pending now is defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and, in the alternative, to dismiss Konka’s fraud and quantum meruit claims as inadequately pled. For the reasons that follow, the Court, finding that Yu’s inclusion as a defendant destroys diversity jurisdiction, dismisses this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The dismissal is without prejudice to Konka’s right to replead in a manner consistent with subject matter jurisdiction. I. Background A. Factual Background1 Konka is a company domiciled in Anhui Province, China. FAC 19. It manufactures and sells LED lights. Id. 1. On or about February 13, 2017, Konka representatives Yidi Zhang and Ling Liu visited GLL’s offices in Mineola, New York. Id. 20. During the visit, Zhang and Liu met with Geffen, GLL’s, CEO, id. 2, who introduced Yu as one of GLL’s business operations leaders responsible for vendors and sourcing for GLL, id. 20. Yu was part of a China-based team that evaluated potential partners and products for sale in the United States. Id. 3. Zhang, Liu, Geffen, and Yu thereafter had a conference call in which Geffen confirmed that GLL employed Yu and authorized Yu to enter into contracts on GLL’s behalf. Id. 20. Later in February 2017, Yu and his associate Michael Kuang, also a GLL employee, visited Konka’s Huizhou factory. Id. 21. Upon request, Konka sent panel light samples to GLL’s Shenzhen office for evaluation. Id. GLL confirmed the quality of the product. Id. 5. On or about February 24, 2017, GLL began to issue purchase orders to Konka through TradeGecko, an electronic portal for the verification and management of supply chains and purchases. Id. 22. The purchase orders all went through Liu via his e-mail address. Id. Konka received eight purchase orders calling for a total shipment of 62,724 items, at a cost to GLL of more than $1.5 million plus a 5.9 percent import tax. See id. 22. On or about March 5, 2017, Yu modified these purchase orders by consolidating certain of them into single purchase orders. Id. 23. During February and March 2017, Konka notified GLL of its acceptance of these purchase orders and shipped a quantity of products. Id. 24. On or about March 2017, Kuang came to a Konka factory to inspect the first batch of products. Id. 25. Konka was protected against default by a program called the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (“Sinosure”). Id. 6. That program would vet potential buyers and provide protection against default up to specified amounts. Id. Kuang described GLL’s intention to submit more purchase orders, but indicated that GLL was subject to certain restrictions from Sinosure that limited the number of products it could order from Konka without upfront payment. Id. 25. Around March 25, 2017, Yu and Kuang, during a business meeting conducted over the internet platform “WeChat,” represented that Yu or his family owned the company “In Style USA, Inc.” (“In Style”), that In Style was a corporate affiliate of GLL, and that Yu was authorized to conduct business on In Style’s behalf. Id. 26. On or about March 25, 2017, Kuang gave Konka In Style’s company information and asked Konka to submit In Style to Sinosure for a credit line application. Id. Konka alleges that, on or about Mach 25, 2017, Yu and Kuang represented that In Style wanted to import LED lights, but that this was in fact a lie, made to induce Konka to ship additional products to GLL on credit, for which Yu and Kuang knew Konka would not be paid. Id.
27-28. Konka further alleges that Kuang and Yu falsified GLL purchase orders to make them appear to have been authorized by In Style with the intent to defraud Konka into shipping additional products to GLL. Id. 29. On or about April 20, 2017, Kuang and Yu made similar representations about “JED Lights, Inc. (“JED”). Over WeChat, Yu and Kuang represented that Yu or his family owned JED and that JED wanted to import LED lights, and they asked Konka to submit JED’s information to Sinosure for a credit line application. See id.
