Administration April 24, 2007

Report: Ex-Apple CFO Works Out Backdating Allegations

April 24, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Apple Inc.'s former chief financial officer Fred Anderson has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations he was involved in backdating stock options at the computermaker, according to a news report.
Reported by

The Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed sources, said the SEC is expected to pursue a civil lawsuit against the company’s ex-general counsel Nancy Heinen on similar charges. Heinen, who will be accused of helping to manipulate one of her own option awards as well as a grant to Steve Jobs, the company’s chief executive, plans to contest the charges, the Journal further quoted the sources as saying.

class=”times”> Under Anderson’s settlement with the SEC, the newspaper said he is agreeing to pay a fine of about $150,000 and repay option gains of about $3.5 million. Anderson is not expected to any wrongdoing and will not be barred from serving as a corporate officer or board member of public companies, according to the report.

class=”times”> In December, after the completion of its internal probe, Apple cleared Jobs of any misconduct, saying he was unaware of the accounting implications of backdated grants and didn’t financially benefit from them because he never exercised his options (See  Apple CEO Aware of Some Stock Option Grants ).

class=”times”> According to the Journal, the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco is also probing the Apple options matter, in addition to the SEC.

class=”times”> The Journal’s sources said the SEC is expected to charge Heinen for her role in a 2001 grant of a split-adjusted 15 million stock options to Jobs.

class=”times”> Part of the SEC’s case against Heinen involves a January 2001 option grant that Heinen received, along with Anderson and other top Apple executives.

class=”times”> Heinen left Apple in May 2006 while Anderson left in October (See Apple Reports Irregularities in Stock Option Grants ).

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