Diageo paid a $5 million SEC penalty for misleading disclosure failures
Company: Diageo plc
Summary
In February 2020, Diageo plc agreed to pay a $5 million penalty to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action concerning disclosures in fiscal years 2014 and 2015. The SEC found that employees at Diageo North America pressured distributors to purchase products beyond market demand to meet internal sales targets. The increased shipments helped Diageo report higher growth in performance indicators followed by investors and analysts. The SEC found that Diageo failed to disclose the resulting trends and left investors with the misleading impression that the reported growth resulted from normal customer demand. Diageo settled without admitting or denying the SEC's findings. Source / proof: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020-36
Record details
- Category
- Corporate Misconduct
- When it happened
- 2014–2015
- Status
- Resolved (February 19, 2020)
- Severity
- high
- Added to Rotten Company
Source
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