GT Advanced disclosed on Thursday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking information about the sapphire glass maker’s trading activity since January 2013 after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. GT Advanced’s latest Form 8-K report claims that the company is fully cooperating with the SEC during its investigation.
It was previously reported that GT Advanced CEO Thomas Gutierrez unloaded all of his stock in the company in a sale just one day before the iPhone 6 was unveiled. For several months leading up to the iPhone 6 launch, it was widely believed that Apple would use sapphire crystal glass for its latest smartphones, but that rumor failed to materialize.
Gutierrez netted about $160,000 from the sales of his stock, while GT Advanced COO Daniel Squiller also sold $1.2 million of stock in May and “set up a plan under which he sold another $750,000 of shares over ensuing months before the company filed for bankruptcy.”
GT Advanced recently reached an agreement in which it will repay Apple a $439 million settlement based on cash earned by selling its Advanced Sapphire Furnaces (ASFs). That agreement was recently amended to allow for GT Advanced’s declaration to be made public information, revealing that Apple receives up to $290,000 per furnace sold.
The related Form 8-K is embedded below:
