SEC asks Steve Jobs for deposition in Apple shares case

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Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple has been asked by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to give a deposition in a lawsuit against the company's former general counsel.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed Jobs for its case against former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen, who was charged on 24 April for backdating option grants to Jobs and other executives.

Jobs was among a number of Apple executives who were expected to give depositions in connection with the suit, the source said, adding: "We are at beginning of that process."

Apple and the SEC declined comment. A lawyer for Jobs could not be reached for comment.

According to a document filed in a California court on 31 August, Heinen is seeking 45 depositions for the case, while the SEC is looking to limit the number to 12 per party.

SEC lawyers have accused Heinen and former Apple chief financial officer Fred Anderson of backdating more than $20 million (£10 million) in stock options in 2001 for Jobs, themselves and other executives.

Anderson in April said he had been told by Jobs that Apple's board had given its approval in the handling of the backdated stock options.

The SEC did not pursue charges against Anderson after he agreed, without admitting or denying the allegations, to pay $3.5 million (£1.75 million) in fines and disgorgement of profit. Heinen's attorney, Miles Ehrlich, said that she is "unimpeachable" and everything she did was approved by Apple's board.

The SEC said in April that it would not pursue enforcement action against Apple, but that the decision did not bar further civil claims against other Apple executives. Apple's own internal investigation, led by board member and former US vice president Al Gore, exonerated Jobs of any misconduct while acknowledging that errors had been made.

Between 1997 and 2002 stock option grants to some executives were backdated to take advantage of a lower share price. Though this in itself was not illegal at the time, failing to include it in the company accounts was. Jobs has long since returned those options he received and insisted he did not "appreciate the accounting implications".

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