SEC v. AT&T, Inc., et al. (2021)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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In March 2021 the SEC sued AT&T and three of its investor-relations executives, Christopher Womack, Michael Black and Kent Evans, over alleged selective disclosure. Black and Evans consented on 5 December 2022 to injunctions and US$25,000 penalties each; this record found no outcome for AT&T or Womack.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the complaint on March 5, 2021 as litigation release 25045, filed in the Southern District of New York.

The complaint alleges the executives made one-on-one calls to analysts to avoid a third consecutive revenue miss, and that the analysts then cut their forecasts so the consensus fell to just below the reported figure. The charges are under the disclosure provisions of Section 13(a) and Regulation FD, with aiding and abetting for the executives.

No trading by anyone on the information is alleged, so the insider-trading tag was removed. The earlier record also listed a single defendant, 'AT&T, Inc., et al.'.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

Outcome so far. Final judgments filed on 5 December 2022 in the Southern District of New York record the consent of Michael Black and Kent Evans, without admitting or denying the allegations. Each is enjoined from aiding and abetting violations of Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act and Regulation FD, and each must pay a US$25,000 civil penalty.

The sources opened do not show how the claims against AT&T, Inc. or Christopher Womack ended, so this record stays at filed and no money figures are entered for the matter as a whole. Checked on 2026-10-04: no outcome for AT&T or Womack found on SEC pages.

Timeline

1. 2021-03-05 Litigation release published
2. 2022-12-05 Consent final judgments against Michael Black and Kent Evans (US$25,000 penalty each)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• Final judgment as to Michael J. Black (5 December 2022)
• Final judgment as to Kent D. Evans (5 December 2022)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Record added September 10, 2026. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.