Fred Anderson, the former chief finance officer at Apple who left rather abruptly when the stock options scandal blew up, has alleged that in January 2001 he warned Steve Jobs, the chief executive, that backdating options would have to be charged against its profits (which Apple didn't do) - and also that Jobs "misled" him about the board's approval for the options by saying it had approved them when it hadn't.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
Apple has acknowledged backdating options grants, and said Mr. Jobs helped select dates for some of the backdated grants. But the company has steadfastly contended that he isn't guilty of any wrongdoing, in part because he didn't "appreciate the accounting implications" of backdating options. The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday said it was taking no action against Apple itself because of its "extraordinary cooperation" in the agency's investigation.
Anderson, who saw the company through some of its tightest financial times during the reign of Gil Amelio, has paid the US Securities and Exchange Commission $3.5m in a settlement of its charges without admission of guilt or wrongdoing.
That leaves Nancy Heinen, formerly Apple's chief counsel, in the crosshairs of the SEC over her alleged part in backdating options and falsifying company records to conceal the fraud.
The upshot? It's still a mess, but Steve Jobs is showing a Teflon coat that, as Nancy Banks-Smith might say, would make Ronald Reagan whistle.
The Wall Street Journal's "Perfect Payday" chart of who's been done over stock options doesn't seem to have been updated with the latest, but it can't be long.
