Former Apple general counsel settles backdating charges.

Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 10:37 PM | Posted by kazouz

The former top attorney at Apple on Thursday agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle federal regulators’ charges that she altered company records to conceal improper backdating of stock options for senior executives including Steve Jobs, the AP reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen, whose civil trial in the case had been scheduled for next year. Heinen neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in settling the SEC’s lawsuit, which was filed last year in federal court in San Jose, Calif.

Heinen did agree to a five-year ban against serving as an officer or director of any public company, and to refrain from future violations of the securities laws. Under a separate administrative proceeding at the SEC, she also consented to a three-year suspension from practicing as an attorney for a public company.

Heinen is paying nearly $1.6 million in restitution, plus $400,219 in interest and a civil fine of $200,000.

“I cherish the great people I worked with at Apple, and I am proud of my contributions to its historic turnaround and current success,” Heinen said, adding that with the lawsuit settled she will now move on to addressing “greater challenges.”