14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like the dust is beginning to settle, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that it will not be filing an enforcement action against Apple Inc.
Usually, stock-options backdating investigations wreak havoc with a company's stock price; however, with Apple, this was not the case. Even after Apple first announced that it is conducting an investigation, and then later when the SEC one started, the Cupertino Company was largely unscathed and analysts were very optimistic.
It seems that even the SEC was impressed by Apple and talked about the company's "extraordinary" cooperation. "Apple's cooperation consisted of, among other things, prompt self-reporting, an independent internal investigation, the sharing of the results of that investigation with the government, and the implementation of new controls designed to prevent the recurrence of fraudulent conduct," the SEC statement said. While the SEC might have been surprised by the level of cooperation, Apple clearly stated from the very beginning that they will be cooperating closely with the authorities, and were very proactive in their own investigation.
While Apple Inc. won't be seeing any enforcement action from the SEC, Apple's former chief financial officer has already settled his options dating case and a lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against Apple's former general counsel for allegedly backdating stock options.
While it looks like both Jobs and Apple are clean, things have taken an interesting turn with the statement issued by Anderson's attorney, Jerome Roth, in which Jobs is blamed. Exactly what will come out of it and what will be Apple's reaction remains to be seen.