Apple CEO Steve Jobs told former Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson to backdate stock options, according to a statement issued Tuesday by Anderson's attorney. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reached a settlement with Anderson in the stock-options case and also charged former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen with fraudulently backdating options. An internal Apple audit found that Jobs was aware of the backdating, but that he did not financially gain from it and did nothing wrong.
According to Anderson, he was told by Jobs in late January 2001 that Jobs had an agreement with the board of directors to grant stock options on January 2. Anderson "cautioned" Jobs that the grant for executives would have to be priced based on the date of the board agreement "or there could be an accounting charge," and also told Jobs the board would have to confirm it had given prior approval for the grant dates "in a legally satisfactory method." Jobs assured him that the board had given approval and Anderson "relied on these statements by Mr. Jobs and from them concluded the grant was being properly handled." According to the SEC case filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, both Heinen and Anderson personally received millions of dollars in unreported compensation through the backdating.
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News source: PC World
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