Report: No charges in Apple backdating probe
The U.S. Justice Department has ended its two-year criminal probe of backdated stock options at Apple and has decided not to file charges against current and former executives, including CEO Steve Jobs, according to a report Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.
Apple and the Justice Department declined to comment, but attorneys for two subjects of the probe told the newspaper that they had been notified that the investigation had concluded
"We were always confident that after a full and fair review of the facts, there could be no other outcome," Cris Arguedas, a lawyer for former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen, told the newspaper.
Apple has admitted that the company backdated certain option grants, including two awarded to Jobs, in order to take advantage of more favorable exercise prices for those grants. Apple has maintained that while Jobs was aware that the options were backdated, he was not aware of the accounting implications of the practice.
This practice isn't illegal, so long as it's disclosed, but dozens of companies failed to do so in the early part of this decade--including CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.
Heinen and former CFO Fred Anderson became public scapegoats for Apple's backdating scandal. Anderson settled his case with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2007, but fired back at Jobs with a press release stating he had in fact informed Jobs of the implications. Apple's board of directors absolved Jobs of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation.
However, Apple isn't free of the backdating headache yet. A shareholder lawsuit filed last month in federal court in San Jose alleges that several executives and directors of Apple committed securities fraud for failing to disclose the company's practice of backdating certain stock option grants in the early part of this decade.
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven. 
The only thing illegal going on is the animal cruelty charge of beating a dead horse.
Jobs not only did this at Apple, but he also did it at Pixar. That guy needs to go to jail. He's like a good con-artist. The guy will sell his mother to get away with a crime. He used his former CFO as a scapegoat.
Pathetic man Jobs is.
Of course, shareholders of other companies got impacted. mmm....
There's a lawsuit filed by Apple shareholders. So, yes, the shareholders are impacted. In other companies, some companies are not affected but the SEC continue to press criminal charges on the executive.
This case is not about Apple shareholders, more about public trust for those who break the law to make themselves a lot of money. Financial gain outcome is not the point of criminality. We have laws to protect the public from being scammed by companies like Apple. And when Apple, specifically, Steve Jobs break this law, he needs to be charged.
The reason why Steve Jobs isn't charge is probably because he has Al Gore on his board. The rich has powerful political friends that allow them to sidestep the law. This is corruption.
Just because SOME shareholders filed a lawsuit doesn't mean that they were impacted by the legal stock backdating. Well they were impacted, but it was to their advantage because Apple stock is worth a lot more after the backdating. Had it gone the stock gone down then there would be a basis for a lawsuit.
"We have laws to protect the public from being scammed by companies like Apple."
"The reason why Steve Jobs isn't charge is probably because he has Al Gore on his board. The rich has powerful political friends that allow them to sidestep the law. This is corruption."
Good point because we all know that Al Gore has control over the Supreme Court of the United States.
"Well they were impacted, but it was to their advantage because Apple stock is worth a lot more after the backdating. Had it gone the stock gone down then there would be a basis for a lawsuit."
Apparently, after shareholders know about the backdating, they sold their shares at a LOSS. Now that Apple stocks are up, they lose even more had it not been for the stock option back dating.
That's the basis for the lawsuit. When Apple breaks the law, it induces a loss of investor's confidence in the market.
But Apple DIDN'T break the law kid.
Should it be illegal? Probably, but it is not currently.
The shareholders are going to have a hell of a time proving that Apple stock would have gone higher if not for the legal(possibly unethical?) decisions of Apple. In nearly all categories, Apple products are either #1 or experiencing double digit growth rates.
Nice try Apple haters but pull your head out of your "you know what" for a minute and you would know that there is no significant basis to move forward with any charges whatsoever.
This will also take the wind out of the sails of the frivolous civil action. Stockholders have seen a 2,000 percent increase in apple stock in recent years and should shut up and enjoy the unprecedented ride they have been on.
Get off the dying horse and ride the wave you might like it!
- by black jelly bean July 11, 2008 5:11 PM PDT
- BS. Steve Jobs and Nancy Heinen (and her shyster subordinates) are both knowing criminal participants in this scam, and were caught trying to cover it up.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(18 Comments)They were caught red-handed in early 2006 when a former employee who was cheated out of all of his stock after being wrongfully dismissed, filed a lawsuit against Apple Con-puter.