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SEC Investigating GT Advanced's Trading Activity
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rsocal
macrumors 6502a
Give me a break. The SEC might try to make and example out of these guys and they probably should.
Meanwhile the real criminals like Former AIG CEO Maurice Hank Greenberg are not only free but free to to sue the US Government because they gave $85B for his +/- $19B (and falling) POS company. Some names like Jaime Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein come to mind as better use of SEC resources.
The real crime these guys at GTA should be shackled for is failing to get me my Sapphire Glass on the iPhone 6.
Meanwhile the real criminals like Former AIG CEO Maurice Hank Greenberg are not only free but free to to sue the US Government because they gave $85B for his +/- $19B (and falling) POS company. Some names like Jaime Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein come to mind as better use of SEC resources.
The real crime these guys at GTA should be shackled for is failing to get me my Sapphire Glass on the iPhone 6.
TallManNY
macrumors 601
Not saying this isn't suspicious, but basic rules of diversification suggest that an executive needs to sell a portion of the stock compensation that he has. If 95% of this guy's wealth is in the same company stock that pays his salary, he should always want to sell some of it. You also wouldn't want almost all your eggs in that one basket. And as GT's stock went up, this guy's wealth became more and more concentrated in it.
brianvictor7
macrumors 65816
ArtOfWarfare
macrumors G3
Thinking about it, back when they announced bankruptcy and that they were shutting the entire plant down, everyone, including Apple, was really confused. Apple said that they were prepared to work out a new deal to ensure that GT Advanced could continue to work on making their technology available to Apple later on, but GT, oddly, insisted they were shutting down.
It seems to me, this could be the explanation. He insisted on shutting down because he wanted to walk off with his undeserved* profits. He didn't want to have to deal with managing his own company and negotiating with Apple so that his company would actually be worth what people thought it was.
*To anyone saying they were deserved - the value of the stock was only as high as it was because investors thought that GT Advanced was going to pull off a major deal with Apple. It turns out that that was completely incorrect, meaning that they are undeserved. Had investors known his actual plans, they would have never invested in GT Advanced in the first place, so his stocks would have been worth nothing.
It seems to me, this could be the explanation. He insisted on shutting down because he wanted to walk off with his undeserved* profits. He didn't want to have to deal with managing his own company and negotiating with Apple so that his company would actually be worth what people thought it was.
*To anyone saying they were deserved - the value of the stock was only as high as it was because investors thought that GT Advanced was going to pull off a major deal with Apple. It turns out that that was completely incorrect, meaning that they are undeserved. Had investors known his actual plans, they would have never invested in GT Advanced in the first place, so his stocks would have been worth nothing.
VulchR
macrumors 68040
Yes. Heaven forbid that an executive isn't shielded from poor business decisions.
In any case, let us wait and see what the SEC comes up with. If they are found guilty, then they should be sentenced to spend an hour in a locked room with the 700 employees that were laid off.
TsunamiTheClown
macrumors 6502a
Typically, dumps like this are made as "retirement moves" by the executives with no expectation of ever working for someone else again.
When grey zone windfalls like this happens, it becomes a big shell game moving money to different, domestic and foreign, holdings and accounts.
I've read reviews with cash converted into gold, foreign currency and even real estate holdings. Thus, it makes the money very difficult to seize. Also, the benefactor can easily gain foreign citizenship overseas to avoid extradition.
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Would not be surprised if Apple Legal made a few calls to the SEC for this to happen so soon.
No:
"Gutierrez sold off 9,000 shares of GT Advanced stock a day before the iPhone 6 was announced as part of a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 Plan enacted in March. He earned $160,000 from that particular sale, but had also sold shares on several other occasions in 2014, netting more than 10 million dollars. Comparatively, Gutierrez sold no stock in 2013, ahead of the company's Apple deal.
Squiller sold $1.2 million worth of stock in May, and made plans to sell off additional shares throughout 2014, garnering an additional $750,000 before the company's October bankruptcy filing, and it appears that the well-timed divestitures have roused suspicion with the SEC."
These were planned sales, well in advance of actual events. I think it's tricky saying they leveraged insider knowledge - I would probably have done exactly the same thing: set up a large sale just before the announcement (and possibly a sale afterwards, as well), to hedge against possible market disappointment.
Again, I'm not saying everything is hunky-dory, just that this is not necessarily a slam dunk case of illicit activity.
oh... poor GT.......
oh well... lets move on. 😀
I still say Apple drove GT down this path... Demanding huge amounts of Sapphire being made for upcoming products, then Apple said no sapphire in iPhone 6, and the reason? because GT was already in this position...
I doubt there would be anyway Apple would of had Sapphire anyway... destined to fail, unless Apple found another source almost imminently.. which would probably be out of the question too.
oh well... lets move on. 😀
I still say Apple drove GT down this path... Demanding huge amounts of Sapphire being made for upcoming products, then Apple said no sapphire in iPhone 6, and the reason? because GT was already in this position...
I doubt there would be anyway Apple would of had Sapphire anyway... destined to fail, unless Apple found another source almost imminently.. which would probably be out of the question too.
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Not in our modern completely corrupt world. These guys will pay off the right people, get a slap on the wrist, get a pretend teaching job at a university, start a foundation and be praised for their charity, and spend the rest of their lives chilling out on their yachts in beautiful and exotic places, while the hard working moral people continue to get shafted and taxed.
TallManNY
macrumors 601
Oh I don't want them shielded. I'm just saying that if you had a net worth of $10 million and $9.5 million of it was in the stock of one company, and that company also paid your salary; you would really really want to sell some of that stock.
SEC will get to the bottom of this or at least put a bit of scare in this guy. But I think he only sold a fraction of his own stock and some of that is normal.
Anyway, they rolled the dice on this and it seems like their technical skills couldn't keep up with their aspirations and promises to Apple. If they had succeed technically to make screens for the iPhone 6 I bet this gamble would have paid off in a big way. But in the end it seems all the folks they've hired in the last year or so are going to have to get new jobs. Hopefully for them they can get back with their prior companies.
Well done to the SEC. These executives are downright thieves and total scumbags. I personally have lost over $100k on GT and these gangsters were merrily telling folk in their quarterly reports that everything was progressing fine. All they were doing was supporting their own position. If I walk into a shop and rob $1000 worth of goods I'll probably get well punished for it. These board members steal , yes STEAL millions. They deserve a very lengthy jail term at the very least with all insider transactions voided.
Will do good
macrumors 6502a
SEC doesn't have the balls to go after the heavyweights like Greenberg or Dimon. They can only pretend to do their job by going after small potatoes like GTA.
I'm sorry but if the planned sale of the stock was made in March, and it happen to land on the day before iPhone launch than it's just a coincidence.
The Apple Keynote wasn't announced back in March nor do I think Apple even knew what dates the Keynote was to be held. Just luck of the draw I believe.
They key is did the Apple/GT relationship go sour prior to the 1st large batch of stock sales. If so than that is the indicator to look at.
The Apple Keynote wasn't announced back in March nor do I think Apple even knew what dates the Keynote was to be held. Just luck of the draw I believe.
They key is did the Apple/GT relationship go sour prior to the 1st large batch of stock sales. If so than that is the indicator to look at.
While I am not an attorney, my opinion is this is worthy of investigation. I want to know what law firm this CEO is hiring to deal with the wrath of both the SEC and Apple Legal.
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I'm sure this will come up. All come down to "who knew what went" and how the Board of Director and other records are reviewed. Times like this, email mining is very effective.
I agree, and I think these guys might have had a much greater incentive to make the sapphire work and meet milestones if the golden parachute hadn't already opened. It sounds like when things started to get a little rough, these guys just said screw it we're cashing out and shutting the place down.
