The US Securities Commission is not letting Apple get off the hook
over the spin it put on Steve Jobs' illness. Apple told its tame
press that Steve was suffering from a hormone imbalance when he was actually
needing a liver transplant.
According to
CNET, the SEC continues to be very interested in how the health of Apple CEO
Steve Jobs went from "hormonal imbalance" to a six-month medical leave
in a matter of nine days back in January. The watchdog is fuming at
the way Apple handled the disclosures surrounding the health of Jobs in late
January and the federal inquiry is ongoing.
What has got SEC's goad
is that whether or not the Apple board knew the seriousness of Jobs' health
problems yet made misleading statements to stockholders and the
public. It is concerned that while Jobs was off sick if any board members,
two of whom were getting regular updates on Jobs' health status from his
doctors, make misleading statements to investors.
Even today Apple
has denied that Steve even had a liver transplant. So as far as
shareholders were concerned, Steve was just a bit under the
weather. The hospital in Tennessee where he had the operation was the
one who officially confirmed it happened and so far no one has explained why
he needed it.
While there are no rules which says a public company
must disclose the health problems of its chief executives, Apple crossed a
line when it said everything was OK, SEC officials say.
Once you
say someone is healthy and they are not, you could be accused of lying to
shareholders. So far it all depends on how much board members knew about
Jobs' illness and when.