Violating FD “Old School” Style!

File this under if you’re gonna violate Reg FD, go ahead and really violate FD! Selective one-on-one calls with 20 different analysts! This action by the SEC against AT&T is “old school”! Here’s my 3-minute Vid-Guide on the law here – and here is an excerpt from this Fried Frank memo:

Interestingly, the SEC also alleges that AT&T’s outreach to analysts in and of itself conveyed material, nonpublic information. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the IR executives knew or recklessly disregarded “that the timing of the calls (i.e., near and after the quarter’s end) and the subject matter discussed (i.e., AT&T’s wireless equipment revenue and/or upgrade rate) also independently conveyed,apart from the specific details that were discussed on a given call, material nonpublic information to the analysts—that their revenue and related estimates were higher than AT&T’s expected results.”