The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against The Cheesecake Factory or making misleading disclosures about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business operations and financial conditions. 

In its SEC filings on March 23, 2020, and April 3, 2020, The Cheesecake Factory stated that its restaurants were "operating sustainably" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SEC says these filings were misleading because the company was losing approximately $6 million in cash per week and that it projected that it had only 16 weeks of cash remaining. 

While The Cheesecake Factory was telling the markets that its restaurants were operating sustainably, it was asking its landlords for help. In its March 23 filing, the company described actions undertaken to preserve financial flexibility during the pandemic. However, it failed to disclose that it had already informed its landlords that it would not pay rent in April due to the impacts that COVID-19 inflicted on its business.