Former Apple exec settles with SEC

Former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen agreed to pay the US Securities and Exchange Commission $2.2m and submit to professional sanctions.

The settlement wraps up the remaining case in Apple's stock options back-dating scandal.

The case surrounded a set of options granted to Apple executives, including chief executive Steve Jobs, in 2001 that were later found to be back-dated in order to yield a better price.

Apple conducted an internal investigation which indicated that, while Jobs was aware of the practice, he did not believe that it was illegal.

Charges were never brought against Apple as a company, but the SEC filed charges against Heinen and former chief financial officer Fred Anderson in April 2007.

By the time the charges were announced, Anderson had settled with the SEC leaving Heinen's as the lone case in the matter.

In addition to the monetary penalties, Heinen will be barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company for the next five years and will be forbidden from appearing before the SEC as an attorney for three years.

Written by Shaun Nichols

vnunet.com