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SeaWorld Under U.S. Department of Justice Investigation

posted by martyb on Sunday June 25 2017, @12:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the facing-the-consequences dept.

takyon writes:

SeaWorld is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over statements made about the Blackfish documentary:

For a while after the 2013 release of the documentary "Blackfish," which excoriated SeaWorld over its treatment of killer whales, the theme park company refused to talk about the film or discounted the idea that it had any impact.

It wasn't until August 2014 that the company admitted that the negative attention had hurt attendance and earnings.

And now federal authorities are asking questions. In a filing [PDF] with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday afternoon, SeaWorld Entertainment said it had received a subpoena this month "in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice concerning disclosures and public statements made by the company and certain executives and/or individuals on or before August 2014, including those regarding the impact of the 'Blackfish' documentary, and trading in the company's securities."

Also at Reuters, CNN, and The Street.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Sunday June 25 2017, @07:07AM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Sunday June 25 2017, @07:07AM (#530815) Homepage
    Not really, it's more about not telling the shareholders that a film which exposed the company's ethically dubious behaviour has affected the company's balance sheet.

    Conclusions:
    1) Ethically dubious behaviour's apparently fine, as long as people don't find out about it (c.f. the Catholic Church)
    2) The public do apparently care about such things, which is why preventing them from knowning is essential
    3) Shareholders are apparently far more important, and actually need laws to protect them from situations like this
    4) Shareholders are apparently fucking stupid, as they actually need laws to protect them from situations like this

    It's a well-made documentary, by the way, there were many points of view displayed.
    --
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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 25 2017, @01:02PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 25 2017, @01:02PM (#530862) Journal
    What exactly is the problem here? Why isn't SeaWorld's discussion of this timely? Here's the timeline as I see it:

    January 2013: limited release of film - no impact on SeaWorld business apparently
    October 2013: film shown on CNN and apparently start of negative impact on SeaWorld business
    August 2014: company warns that film has had negative impact on business.

    When exactly is the proper date to realize and warn that a film will have a material impact on SeaWorld business? This looks quite timely to me. I couldn't tell if insider selling had happened prior to August 2014, but that doesn't seem the focus of the federal investigation.