Treasurer Fitzgerald, others urge Apple NDA probe

A group of state treasurers, including Iowa State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Apple misled its investors and the agency about its use of nondisclosure agreements, which advocates say have long been used to silence mistreated workers.

In a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, eight Democratic state treasurers questioned the veracity of Apple’s recent statement to the commission that its policy “is to not use such clauses,” known as concealment clauses.

“Multiple news reports have stated that whistleblower documents demonstrate Apple uses the very concealment clauses it repeatedly claimed it does not use,” they wrote last week in the letter, shared exclusively with the Washington Post.

Pinterest whistleblower Ifeoma Ozoma, who helped organize the letter, said Sunday that there “at the very least should be an investigation and, in my personal opinion, should be fines levied against the company for using a formal process to lie to a federal agency.”

The missive heightens scrutiny of Apple’s treatment of its workforce ahead of an upcoming vote at its annual shareholders meeting that could require the tech giant to disclose any use of nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, to its investors.

In December, the SEC rejected Apple’s bid to exclude the proposal, which called on the company to prepare a public report to evaluate any risks “associated with its use of concealment clauses in the context of harassment, discrimination and other unlawful acts.”

Apple argued in a letter to the agency that it had “already substantially implemented the underlying concerns and objectives of the proposal.” But workers have disputed the claims, and the SEC dismissed the company’s assessment.

Now, the state treasurers are calling for the SEC to step in and determine “whether or not Apple misled the Commission and investors about this matter.” The letter is signed by Iowa State Treasurer Fitzgerald as well as treasurers from Rhode Island, California, Delaware, Illinois, Washington, Colorado and Kansas.

Spokespeople for Apple and the SEC declined to comment on the letter.