Former Apple CFO to be probed

Two former senior Apple executives, including a former CFO, are being probed
by US investigators over the company’s options-granting practices.

This follows the
clearing
of current management heads, the Wall Street Journal reported today. It
said former CFO
Fred
Anderson and former Apple legal counsel and board secretary, Nancy Heinen,
are among those set to be probed.

Anderson joined Apple in 1996, while Heinen was a long-time employee of
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Lawyers for both have said their clients had
done nothing wrong.

Apple turned over results of an internal probe to the Justice Department and
Securities
and Exchange Commission last week.

In an SEC filing, the company revealed that thousands of options grants
between 1997 and 2002 were improperly dated.

Former US vice-president, Al Gore has chaired a special committee
investigating Apple.

In a joint statement with Apple’s Audit and Finance Committee chair, Jerome
York, Gore said: ‘The special committee, its independent counsel and forensic
accountants have performed an exhaustive investigation of Apple’s stock option
granting practices.

‘The board of directors is confident that the company has corrected the
problems that led to the restatement, and it has complete confidence in Steve
Jobs and the senior management team.’

Further reading

At
Apple, timing led to overnight windfalls

Feds
Looking At Two Ex-Apple Execs

Apple
options probe spotlights ex-officials: paper