Yesterday, a lawyer for former Apple CFO Fred Anderson
placed Apple CEO Steve Jobs in the center of the company's stock options backdating scandal.
Today, Apple directors Bill Campbell, Millard Drexler, Al Gore, Arthur Levinson, Eric Schmidt and Jerry York issued a statement of their own:
We are not going to enter into a public debate with Fred Anderson or his lawyer. Steve Jobs cooperated fully with Apple's independent investigation and with the government's investigation of stock option grants at Apple. The SEC investigated the matter thoroughly and its complaint speaks for itself, in terms of what it says, what it does not say, who it charges, and who it does not charge. We have complete confidence in the conclusions of Apple's independent investigation, and in Steve's integrity and his ability to lead Apple.
Until he resigned last year, Anderson sat at the same table with the company's directors, as a director himself. Yesterday, Anderson settled charges against him filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission without admitting wrongdoing in the case, which involved the backdating of stock options for several company executives during the early 2000s. Former Apple General Counsel Nancy Heinen was also charged Tuesday, and that case is pending.
The statement crossed the wires minutes before Apple was expected to post its second quarter earnings.
