The SEC is dragging AT&T to court for illegally duping analysts into lowering expectations | AT&T provided nonpublic information to 20 different analyst firms so they would lower revenue estimates ahead of earnings, according to a press release – that let AT&T “beat” expectations for the quarter
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/5/22316163/sec-att-nonpublic-information-analysts-beat-quarterly-estimates