Saturday, January 13, 2007
Apple probe continues amid buzz over iPhone
Federal officials are looking into a grant awarded to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
The latest from The Ticker blog
SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal investigators are still examining whether any of the accounting shenanigans at Apple rose to the level of criminal behavior, according to a news report, even though the company has cleared Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs and all current executives of any wrongdoing in an internal stock-options backdating probe.
Federal authorities are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding one award to Jobs for options on 7.5 million shares, an award that carried a false October 2001 date when it was actually approved in December of that year, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing anonymous sources.
The Journal also reported that investigators with the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the Securities and Exchange Commission are trying to question a former Apple Inc. attorney, Wendy Howell, who was in charge of stock-option administration and was quietly dismissed last month.
Howell is believed to have falsified documents related to Jobs' grant, the Journal reported, citing the anonymous sources. Her attorney, Thomas Carlucci, did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press early Friday.
Apple has said its internal probe revealed "serious concerns" about the actions of two former Apple employees in connection with improperly accounted stock-options grants. Those people are reportedly Fred Anderson, the former chief financial officer, and Nancy Heinen, former general counsel.
Defense attorneys for Anderson and Heinen have both said their clients did not knowingly participate in any manipulation of the awards.
The latest revelations about the federal probe appear to ratchet up the pressure on Jobs and Apple at one of the most prosperous times for the company and raises further questions about Jobs' future.
Apple's stock has been trading at all-time highs this week after Jobs unveiled one of the company's most important products in years -- the iPhone.
Jobs' dramatic introduction of the multimedia gadget led to a federal trademark-infringement lawsuit from Cisco Systems Inc., which has owned the trademark on the name "iPhone" since 2000 and began shipping its own line of iPhone-branded Internet-enabled phones in spring of 2006.
Investors sent the company's stock to a high of $97.80 on Thursday, creating more than $10 billion in additional shareholder wealth at the stock's peak, compared with its price before the announcement.
Apple's stock price has since been retreating, falling $1.10 to $94.70 in midday trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
