AT&T Settles SEC Charge of Selectively Disclosing Material Information to Wall St. Analysts

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that AT&T agreed to pay a $6.25 million penalty and three company executives agreed to pay $25,000 apiece stemming from charges brought in March 2021 related to the company’s selective disclosure of material nonpublic information to research analysts in violation of Regulation FD and Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The penalty that AT&T agreed to pay is the largest ever in a Regulation FD case. According to the SEC’s complaint, AT&T learned in March 2016 that a steeper-than-expected decline in its first quarter smartphone sales would cause AT&T’s revenue to fall short of analysts’ estimates for the quarter.