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The SEC Is Getting Closer To Jobs
Strudelkugel writes "CNN is reporting that Apple's ex-CFO warned Steve Jobs about backdating options. From the article: 'Apple's former finance chief Fred Anderson blamed Apple CEO Steve Jobs for a 2001 stock option grant that was backdated, according to a statement from Anderson's lawyer released Tuesday. The statement was released by Anderson's lawyer, Jerome Roth, after Anderson settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to Apple's stock option plan without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.' This is serious business. It is quite possible that the SEC could someday require Jobs to resign from Apple."
Jobs may or may not have violated the SEC's regulations but he's hardly what I would call a bad guy. This backdated option stuff was almost industry standard and, when it started, wasn't exactly illegal. OK, so it wasn't exactly legal either but corporate lawyers were giving it the OK. The guys at RIM are getting tarred with the same brush and as far as I can tell, they did nothing wrong. The question should be asked: "Did these individuals get any money to which they weren't otherwise entitled?" If not, get off their case.
The SEC should spend some time going after some real bad guys: SCO for instance.
Like Martha Stewert, what the hell do they have to gain by doing this? They are already as rich as anyone needs to be. His net gain is probably the equivalent of me finding a penny on the street.
Looks like shit's about to hit the fan for ol Jobs
You may recall that little thing called enron, that had a lot of people calling for blood of ANY financial misdoings?
Personally, I think Martha serving jail time was a bit silly...on the other hand, do you know what she was convicted of? It was not insider trading, it was multiple counts of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice. Just like Scooter libby. Just like Bill Clinton. Are we seeing a pattern here? It's a bad idea to lie to police/investigators/under oath/etc!!
In addition, you misrepresent the Apple situation. This isn't just filing taxes incorrectly--which you make sound like a simple accident. Currently they are investigating minutes of boardroom meetings being fully made up--reocrds of meetings that never occurred. Falsification of documents. That seems like a pretty big deal.. But hey, we should probably go easy on big corporations right--at least the ones we like, like Apple??
I like how you make this a partisan problem too... I'm sure if a famous Republican lied to investigators about insider trading and obstructed justice, you would be absolutely as convinced that they were persecuted unfairly. It seems like according to you, Republicans are damned if they do, damned if they don't (and that's assuming that this is a political issue at all!). Don't investigate illegal corporate doings--it's just those fat cat corrupt washington republicans. But if they DO investigate illegal corporate doings--why they're just attacking their political enemies. Give me a break!
They could just say "It's all Microsoft's" fault. Everyone else seems to be too lazy to come up with their own ideas as to what causes what, and MS seems to be the scapegoat for everything simply because they make a good product. Blow me if you disagree.
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