Apple geezer Jobs investigated by feds

FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS are looking harder at the actions of Apple's messiah Steve Jobs in the wake of the share backdating scandal.

Apple has bent over backwards to clear Jobs of involvement in the scandal but federal prosecutors are not being so kind. The Recorder, a legal rag based in San Francisco, said that Jobs was interviewed last week by federal prosecutors and SEC lawyers.

According to the Washington Post, investigators were a little surprised about the way Steve handled his stock options from 2001. One of the stranger things is that he waited about two-thirds of a year to report the receipt of 7.5 million options that were improperly backdated.

A board meeting at which they were reportedly approved never took place and was faked for accounting purposes. While the timing of Jobs's filing was not illegal and beat the deadline, it was a sudden change in the way Apple usually did things.

Michael Levy, a former federal prosecutor, told the Post that it was "an anomaly worth pursuing." He said the fact it was the illegal grant that was subject to such a delayed filing would seem "very interesting" to investigators.

When Jobs finally got around to filling in the form in 2002 he mentioned the fake date for the board meeting four times.

Apple points out that Jobs never benefited from his options because he gave them up before they were exercised. However now it is becoming clearer that when he gave them up he received restricted stock estimated to be of about the same value.

More here. µ