A former top lawyer at Apple, who was responsible for ensuring that employees weren’t involved in insider trading, has been indicted on charges of insider trading, reports a press release from the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
According to the indictment, the former director of corporate law at Apple, Gene Levoff, allegedly participated in a scheme from 2011 to 2016 in which he defrauded Apple by using insider company financial information to make stock trades. The indictment alleges Levoff sold stock when he learned that Apple posted “lower-than-anticipated revenue and net profit” evading major losses, and it alleges that he traded during a “blackout period” when high-level employees were supposed to be barred from trading.
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“This scheme to defraud Company-1 and its shareholders allowed Levoff to realise profits of approximately $US227,000 ($332,723) on certain trades and to avoid losses of approximately $US377,000 ($552,585) on others,” the release states.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Gizmodo request for comment.
As CNBC points out, the SEC charged Levoff in a civil case in February. At the time, Apple told CNBC that after authorities reached out with concerns in the summer of 2018, the company “conducted a thorough investigation with the help of outside legal experts, which resulted in termination.”
This week’s indictment is criminal. Levoff faces six counts of wire fraud and six counts of securities fraud.
Levoff began working at Apple around 2008. Around 2013, he became senior director of corporate law at the company, functioning as the “top corporate attorney.” In February 2018, he became Apple’s corporate secretary. According to the indictment, Levoff was responsible for making sure Apple was in compliance with its own insider trading policy. He was tasked with informing employees of these blackout periods and helped determine who should be on the blackout list.