Washington – With federal prosecutors investigating the granting of stock options by Apple, the actions of its iconic chief executive, Steve Jobs, are being more closely examined.
A review of how Jobs handled his stock options from 2001 shows that he waited about two-thirds of a year to report the receipt of 7.5 million options that the company admitted last month were improperly backdated. The board meeting at which they were reportedly approved never took place.
The timing of Jobs’ filing was not illegal and beat the deadline. But it broke with a practice common among other Apple officers and directors of submitting the report within weeks, not months.
“That’s clearly an anomaly worth pursuing,” said Michael Levy, an ex-federal prosecutor who now works at the McKee Nelson law firm in Washington.
