Ex-Apple top attorney settles with regulator
Former top attorney at Apple on Thursday agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle federal regulators’ charges that she altered company records to conceal improper backdating of stock options for senior executives.
By Agencies |
WASHINGTON: The former top attorney at Apple on Thursday agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle federal regulators��� charges that she altered company records to conceal improper backdating of stock options for senior executives including Steve Jobs.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the settlement with former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen, whose civil trial in the case had been scheduled for next year. Heinen neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in settling the SEC���s lawsuit, which was filed last year in federal court in San Jose, California.
Heinen did agree to a five-year ban against serving as an officer or director of any public company, and to refrain from future violations of the securities laws. Under a separate administrative proceeding at the SEC, she also consented to a three-year suspension from practicing as an attorney for a public company. Heinen is paying nearly $1.6 million in restitution, plus $400,219 in interest and a civil fine of $200,000.
���I cherish the great people I worked with at Apple, and I am proud of my contributions to its turnaround,��� Heinen said.
Hundreds of companies have been investigated by the SEC and federal prosecutors over stock options backdating, but Cupertino, California-based Apple was the most high-profile one to be scrutinized for possible criminal violations. The criminal probe of the maker of iPods, iPhones and Macintosh computers ended in July, after the specter of a possible indictment hung over the company for more than a year. Jobs, Apple���s chief executive, had been considered likely to be called to testify in Heinen���s SEC trial.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
