Steve Jobs, others accused of fraud

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been accused of fraud in a US court.

Jobs alongside a range of current and former board members and executives have been accused of fraud in a class action, more fallout from the company's stock options backdating scandal.


The accused include former financial officer Fred Anderson, former general counsel Nancy Heinen, and board members William V. Campbell, Millard S. Drexler, Arthur D. Levinson, and Jerome B. York.

The case was filed on Friday. Plaintiffs Martin Vogel and Kenneth Mahoney say the accused participated in a plot to file false financial statements, concealing millions of dollars in executive compensation when they did so.

In June 2006, Apple acknowledged that an internal investigation had revealed irregularities in its stock option grants between 1997 and 2001. It also said that one of the grants in question was to Jobs but that "it was subsequently canceled and resulted in no financial gain to the CEO."

The complaint claims Jobs and others knew what was going on: "The defendants knew that options were not granted on the dates that were disclosed to shareholders and falsified the company's records to create the appearance of illegality, and thus bear direct responsibility for their actions," it says.




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