Legal News

High Noon for Heinen: Former Apple GC Settles SEC Options Flap

By Dan Slater

Up until about a year ago, Nancy Heinen, Apple’s former general counsel, made regular appearances on the Law Blog for her alleged involvement in the Apple backdating scandal. (Click here and here for past posts.) Today, it’s over.

Heinen has agreed to a settlement with the SEC in which she’ll pay $2.2 million — $1.6 million in disgorgement, representing the in-the-money portion of the proceeds she received from exercising backdated options, plus about $400,000 in interest and a $200,000 civil penalty. According to this Reuters report, Heinen also agreed to be barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years.

She settled the case without admitting or denying the charges, the SEC said. The SEC alleged that Heinen caused Apple to fraudulently backdate the two large grants — a February 2001 grant of 4.8 million options to Apple’s executive team, including herself, and a grant to CEO Steve Jobs of 7.5 million options in 2001. She was also charged with altering company records to conceal the fraud. The charges relate to two large options grants to senior executives of Apple, including a grant to Steve Jobs of 7.5 million options in December 2001. (For a more comprehensive breakdown of the charges against Heinen, click here.)

“I cherish the great people I worked with at Apple, and I am proud of my contributions to its historic turnaround and current success,” Heinen said in a statement. “With this lawsuit behind me, I look forward to addressing the greater challenges of social justice and economic disparity.”

Heinen was repped by Cris Arguedas of Arguedas, Cassman & Healy and Miles Ehrlich at Ramsey & Ehrlich.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 14, 2008 (boomark / email).