Apple backdating probe halted
p2pnet news view | Crime:- Apple’s Steve Jobs is off the hook in the US Department of Justice criminal investigation into stock options backdating.
“The computer maker was among the most prominent of more than 200 companies to be investigated over the practice, in which the grant dates of stock options are changed using hindsight to inflate their value,” says the Financial Times, going on »»»
The SEC last year filed civil charges against Mr Anderson and Ms Heinen over alleged backdating. Mr Anderson paid $3.5m to settle the charges. He neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. Ms Heinen is fighting the case. Her trial is set to begin next year.
“There was never any basis to bring charges against Nancy, so it is no surprise that the government reached this conclusion,” Reuters has Cristina Arguedas, Heinen’s lawyer, stating.
The SEC case, “relies on testimony from a lower-ranking former Apple lawyer, Wendy Howell, who testified she was asked by Heinen to falsify minutes of meetings of Apple’s board of directors that never took place,” says the story.
Although backdating isn’t of itself illegal, “it creates accounting problems and can fall foul of securities laws if it is not properly disclosed,” adds the FT.
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Financial Times – Justice department halts Apple stock options inquiries, July 11, 2008
Reuters – DOJ drops criminal probe into Apple options, July 10, 2008
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