The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Apple’s disclosures regarding chief executive Steve Jobs’ health, reports Bloomberg. The key issue here is whether Apple misled investors, a concern raised after Jobs revealed to the public earlier this month that his drastic weight loss was a result of a simple-to-treat hormone imbalance, followed 9 days later by the revelation that the chief executive was taking a 5 month leave of absence due to his health issues being “more complex” than originally believed.
Apple isn’t under suspicion of any wrongdoing, but given some of the financial travesties of late–think Bernie Madoff-the SEC is probably just covering its ass. Any potential case would be tough to prove anyway.
From Bloomberg:
To bring any case, the SEC would probably have to show the company tried to benefit by withholding information about an unambiguous diagnosis, said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor and SEC lawyer who now teaches at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.
“It would be difficult, and certainly a new area of the law,” Henning said. “You would have to pin down exactly what they knew, and with a health issue — unlike a merger or a decline in revenue — it’s not subject to definitive answers.”
Assuming there was no benefit to Apple in the timing of the disclosure, the company is not required by the SEC to provide private health information about Jobs.
As a side note, Apple will announce its fourth quarter earnings after market close today.
via bloomberg
(Image Credit: William Wilkinson)