Eric Poer, CPA, a globally recognized securities, accounting, valuation, and regulatory enforcement expert, was retained by Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe LLP to provide expert reports in defense of Apple Inc., CEO Timothy Cook, and CFO Luca Maestri in a high-stakes securities class action dispute.

Mr. Poer, now a leader in Secretariat’s Global Investigations & Dispute’s practice¹, led and collaborated with other top experts, including teams of highly-regarded academic and industry specialists from UCLA and the Virginia Darden School of Business. Mr. Poer, who served as both a summary and expert witness, had his expert qualifications upheld by the court as an expert capable of opining on accounting and financial matters.

The class action securities lawsuit filed by Apple investors in the Northern District of California in April 2019, alleged that Cook and Maestri provided materially false and misleading statements in their November 2018 call with stock analysts and institutional investors concerning demand for the iPhone X in China, the company’s third-largest market. Subsequently, on January 2, 2019, Apple revised the company’s revenue forecast, largely due to weak demand in China, marking the first time that Apple reduced its guidance since the iPhone’s initial release in 2007.² This led the company’s stock price to drop more than 10% the next day.³ The plaintiffs originally alleged more than $70 billion in damages.⁴

In September 2024, the Honorable Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved Apple’s all-cash $490 million settlement, ending the five-year dispute. The historic settlement is the third-largest settlement in the Northern District of California and one of the 40 largest securities-related settlements ever.⁵

Per the September 2024 order granting the final approval of the class action settlement, the “plaintiffs faced significant hurdles” including “overcoming expert economic testimony from defendants’ experts.”⁶

While a substantial sum, the $490 million settlement constitutes less than 1% of Apple’s $93.74 billion profit during the 2024 fiscal year. Apple’s stock price has more than quadrupled since the revised revenue guidance in January 2019, creating an additional $2 trillion in shareholder wealth.⁷

1. As of May 2024 ↩︎
2. Letter from Tim Cook to Apple investors | Apple Newsroom ↩︎
3. Apple to pay $490 million to settle allegations that it misled investors about iPhone sales in China | The Seattle Times ↩︎
4. Legal Fee Tracker: Lawyers want $122.5 million in Apple securities case | Reuters ↩︎
5. Robbins Geller Secures $490 Million Securities Fraud Recovery from Apple | Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP ↩︎
6. Apple Inc Securities Litigation Docket | Pacer Monitor ↩︎
7. Apple to pay $490 million to settle allegations that it misled investors about iPhone sales in China | AP News ↩︎