US securities regulators have declared on Tuesday that they would bring no civil charges against Apple over the backdating of executive stock options. However, they stopped short of clearing the cloud that for nearly a year has been hovering over the firm’s chief executive, Steve Jobs. Despite of the recent disclosure by the Apple’s former chief financial officer that Chief Executive Steve Jobs for had ignored early warnings, the Securities and Exchange Commission applauded the firm for its ’swift, extensive and extraordinary cooperation’ in the investigation that led to an SEC lawsuit against the former CFO and another ex- executive.
In the meanwhile, Fred Anderson has blasted that Steve Jobs knew more about Apple’s backdating than either Jobs or the company has admitted, an explosive accusation that came as federal prosecutors were reached an end of their investigation into the computer maker firm. However, the recent blow means the backdating controversy surrounding Apple might not get over so easily. However, it is not clear what effect it will have on the probe, and charges against Jobs still seem questionable.
Moreover, it seems to be premature to ascertain whether Apple and Jobs are actually in the clear. Even though the SEC has said that it was closing its investigation of the company, but it did not make clear that it was not looking at Jobs. The company is under criminal investigation by the US attorney’s office in San Francisco and is the subject of shareholder lawsuits. However, the agency has praised the company for the steps it took in managing its stock option backdating problems, such as promptly reporting the mistreatment, conducting an independent internal investigation and sharing the results of that investigation with the government.
Lawyers for the SEC have filed a lawsuit that spelled out their case against two former Apple executives in connection with deceptive dating of options. One defendant, Nancy Heinen, Apple’s general counsel until last May, will contest the accusations, while the other, Fred Anderson, chief financial officer from 1996 to 2004, reached a settlement without admitting or denying wrongdoing. According to the SEC, Heinen helped backdate options given to Apple’s top officers, causing the company to under-report its expenses by almost $40 million.
