GT Advanced Tecnologies Inc.'s Sour Apple Deal To Stay 'Secret?'

GT Advanced Technologies Inc.

says it can't disclose why it sought Chapter 11 protection and asked a bankruptcy judge Thursday to seal all court documents. The company signed a $578 million deal with Apple Inc

last year to supply the computer and smartphone maker with sapphire. Souring of the Apple deal is widely supposed to account for GT's filing Monday at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in in Manchester, N.H. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Henry Boroff said in open court that creditors can only obtain information by signing a confidentiality agreement. Besides destroying GT's stock price and burning countless contractors, the bankruptcy touched off a scene of pandemonium this week at one of GT's offices in Asia, where creditors were “banging on the door” and GT was forced to send its workers home, GT attorney James Grogan told the court. Leonard Kabala, a small investor from Salem, N.H., says he lost more than $52,000 this week in the ensuing meltdown of GT shares. About 90 percent of GT's market value evaporated. Outside the Manchester courtroom Thursday, Kabala told the New Hampshire Business review that he got "blind-sided" and came to the hearing "to get educated." But Kabala went home still in the dark, as most of Thursday's proceedings were held behind closed doors in a consultation by GT Advanced and lawyers for Apple before Judge Boroff. GT attorney Luc Despins told the open court that the company "feels terrible" about that loss of value and "will work every day to recover that value.” Despins added however "that's not a guarantee." The hearing resumes Oct. 21. But on Wednesday, GT unexpectedly filed for protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Hampshire, No: 14-11916.