heinen

Former Apple lawyer settles options case with SEC

Former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen has settled with the SEC over charges that she improperly backdated stock options at the company.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Heinen last year charging her with cherry-picking grant dates for stock option awards to Apple executives--including CEO Steve Jobs--and falsifying paperwork in order to cover up the selection of the favorable dates. Stock option backdating is legal if properly disclosed, but dozens of companies--including CNET Networks--in the earlier part of this decade failed to do so, and executives at other companies have gone to prison as a result.

Heinen will pay $2.… Read more

Report: Apple's Steve Jobs subpoenaed in options case

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will have to appear before federal investigators as part of the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Nancy Heinen, Apple's former head lawyer, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

In April, the SEC filed suit against Heinen and Fred Anderson, Apple's former CFO, charging them with orchestrating the backdating of stock options at the company. Anderson agreed to settle his suit with the SEC at the time it was filed, but the proceedings are under way against Heinen. Bloomberg's report said that the SEC is not opening an investigation of Jobs with this move, but … Read more

Former Apple general counsel denies backdating involvement

Nancy Heinen, the former general counsel at Apple, filed court papers Friday denying charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that she orchestrated stock option backdating at the company.

Bloomberg reported that the court papers deny the specific charge that Heinen ordered another lawyer in Apple's legal department to prepare documents authorizing a stock option grant to CEO Steve Jobs with an earlier grant date. However, the documents told a story of a board meeting that never took place, drawing the ire of the SEC and forcing Apple to record charges to reflect the true value of the options. … Read more

Why Apple's board stands behind Jobs

Apple's board knows a good thing when it sees it.

The brief but strong statement it issued this afternoon in defense of Steve Jobs left no doubt about the depth of the board's support for its CEO.

But how about a reality check, folks?

Did anyone really believe Apple would mess with its main meal ticket? A few minutes after the board statement hit the wire, the company announced its latest earnings report--and it was a dazzler: profit soared 88 percent on a 21 percent sales climb. Those are the sort of numbers that buy lifetime job security. … Read more