Activision Blizzard agrees to pay $35 million to settle workplace misconduct charges
Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a pair of charges related to complaints of workplace misconduct, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced.
In a statement released on Friday, the SEC said the Call of Duty and Warcraft publisher had previously lacked the tools and procedures necessary to adequately collect and analyse employee complaints of workplace misconduct.
It also said Activision Blizzard had broken the law by violating an SEC whistleblower protection rule.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Activision Blizzard agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a $35 million penalty.
“The SEC’s order finds that Activision Blizzard failed to implement necessary controls to collect and review employee complaints about workplace misconduct, which left it without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, director of the SEC’s Denver regional office.
“Moreover, taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.”
More to follow…
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