Press reports indicate that a federal jury has found Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) and certain former officers liable for securities fraud and has ordered them to pay $280 million to shareholders in the securities class action suit pending in the District of Arizona.

Apollo Group is the for-profit company that owns the University of Phoenix. The company has a website dedicated to the securities litigation, here.

The company has issued the following statement:

Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOL) is disappointed in the decision returned today by a Phoenix jury in a consolidated securities class action brought by the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. The case, tried in federal district court in Arizona, was premised on Apollo’s supposed failure to disclose unsubstantiated allegations from a preliminary government report.

“We disagree with the jury’s verdict, both the finding and the amount of damages,” said Wayne W. Smith of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, counsel to Apollo. “The law does not require the disclosure of preliminary or unproven charges in a government investigation. In not disclosing the report at issue, Apollo acted in good faith and in the best interests of its students, alumni, employees and shareholders, who could have been unfairly harmed by a premature disclosure.”

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Apollo is evaluating options for appeal.

No comment yet from the plaintiffs or their counsel, but stay tuned.