SEC Charges Sapphire Glass Manufacturer and Former CEO With Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New Hampshire-based company and its former CEO with misleading investors about the company’s ability to supply “sapphire glass” for Apple’s iPhones. The company, GT Advanced Technologies Inc., also is found to have misclassified more than $300 million in debt to Apple that resulted from its repeated failures to meet performance milestones. According to the SEC’s orders, in the fall of 2013, Apple agreed to advance $578 million in four installments to GT in exchange for sapphire glass that met certain technical standards. The agreement was closely watched by the market and highly material to GT’s revenue, liabilities, and stock value.