The Daily Caveat is written by Michael Thomas, a recovering corporate investigator in the Washington, DC-area. [More]

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9/14/2008
Apple Settles Backdating Lawsuit
Glad that this is out of the way so that Steve and Co. can make with the new laptops next month. My 1.5 Ghz Powerbook is getting a little long in the tooth.

-- MDT

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7/10/2008
Apple Off the Hook on Options
At least when it comes to the Justice Department. Allegedly aggrieved investors may have other ideas. Me personally, I'm just excited for the iPhone 2.0 upgrade available on Friday.

-- MDT

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7/02/2008
Backdating Concerns Rise from the Ashes for Apple
We'll see if they gain any more traction via this new civil suit. The last run through saw Apple jettison its general counsel, among others.

-- MDT

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1/16/2008
Macbook Air
Oh Yeah. That looks about right...

I'll give em a few months to work out the kinks - then I'm in.

-- MDT

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1/14/2008
Ahhhh, Macworld
What garden of earthly delights will be visited on us tomorrow morning from the Macworld Expo? The Daily Caveat pines for a worthy replacement for a now aged, but well-loved, 17 inch Powerbook. It will be hard to set it aside, but it is time. That's the thing about Macs. You actually get kindof attached to the little guys...

Last time out the Macworld conference brought us the iPhone. If you haven't used one yet, I suggest you start. You can read all the naysaying reviews you want from the internet wonk contrarians. They're wrong. Unless you simply cannot be unbuckled from your Blackberry, the iPhone one year later still cannot be touched for the seamless blend of features, usability and mobile computing potential.

This year, who's to say what the Macworld keynote will bring. Many have suggested an ultralite mobile-tweaked Macbook that incorporates a touchscreen interface mimicking the iPhone's central innovation. I'll take two, thanks. Did I mention that my Powerbook is dying? But of course the fun is in the prognostication, of which you'll find plenty right here.

-- MDT

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11/06/2007
Apple's Former General Counsel Comes Back Swinging
Ousted and indicted former Apple General Counsel, Nancy Heinen is readying her defense against stock option backdating charges from the SEC. Apple dismissed Heinen when the SEC came calling on the company regarding questionable grants practices.

While Apple patriarch, Steve Jobs seemed to be at least momentarily in the cross-hairs (and many predicted his sort, swift downfall), it was Heinen along with a few other high level company employees who have ultimately faced repercussions.

In her defense Heinen is seeking financial records from fellow former Apple in-house attorney, Wendy Howell. Howell, also canned in the options mess, was the individual who actually wrote the questionable options grant to Steve Jobs. Howell has indicated she falsified the options grant under pressure from Heinen.

Heinen wants access to the documents to show that Howell was under considerable financial distress at the time, hoping to discredit her testimony. Howell has thusfar resisted the overtures of the Heinen defense team citing privacy concerns.

Heinen recently filed suit against her former co-worker in an effort to produce the documents. MacWorld UK has the details on the case of Heinen v. Howell.

-- MDT

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9/10/2007
Judge Skeptical of Apple Backdating Suit
(In keeping with our iPhone theme...)

Justin Scheck at the LegalPad Cal Law blog has details...


-- MDT

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5/04/2007
Apple Backdating Investigation Turns Toward the BOD
With Steve Jobs, at this point, apparently not facing legal action for his role in Apple's stock option backdating kerfluffle, attention has turned to the Apple board and how it conducts itself. The board features a few folks you may have heard of including former Vice President, Al Gore and Google boss, Eric Shmidt.

The San Francisco Gate has the details.

-- MDT

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4/25/2007
Former Apple CFO Makes Deal, Tells Tales on Jobs
Looks like Nacy Heinen and Fred Anderson - Apple's former general counsel and CFO, respectively - are coming out swinging. So far Heinen and Anderson are the only two Apple execs to take a public fall for the company's stock option backdating, but both may still have a great deal to say about the role of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Official charges against Heinen are expected from the SEC as soon as this week. She has vowed to fight. Anderson, on the other hand, has cut a deal with the SEC - paying $3.5 million to settle backdating-related charges against him.

More on all the schenanigans from Palo Alto, via the FT - here and here.

-- MDT

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4/23/2007
Apple's Steve Jobs a Likely to Avoid Criminal Charges in Stock Options Probe
Was there ever any doubt?

Details at Tech-Blorge.

-- MDT

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3/26/2007
Steve Jobs - Not Out of the Woods Yet
This San Francisco Chronicle article does a good job of laying why Jobs should still be sweating (if only in private) his 2001 stock option grants. Jobs has already passed through one options investigation untouched, that of, Pixar the animation house he bought of George Lucas for a song and then turned into a creative powerhouse.

But backdating issues with Jobs's gig at Apple, Inc. still loom large. There's a lot of smoke and maybe a bit of fire too. After all it would seem fortuitous for Job's to have accepted options backdated to just four days before Apple made the announcement of its first iPod...until you recall that the iPod was widely derided as a flop-in-the-making.

The Daily Caveat thinks Jobs'll skate...but time will tell.

-- MDT

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1/26/2007
Steve Jobs and Stock Options...a Turning Point?
There are certainly plenty of business medial pundits out there that have weighed in on the stock options backdating with their contention that imbroglio is much ado about nothing. And yet 160 some odd companies are either currently under or facing potential federal investigation and executives have been dropping right and left.

Heck, one guy even fled the country and initiated an international man-hunt.

One of the most prominent options inquiries has been that of Apple Computer (excuse me...Apple, Inc.) and CEO, Steve Jobs. It looked as if Jobs might skate initially because he essentially grew no benefit from the options that were awarded him. Apple's own internal investigation cried no harm no foul and it seemed that the story might just fade away into the din and roar preceding the much anticipated debut of Apple's iPhone.

But the story didn't quite die there. Just when the Apple options issue seemed to be dying down, it was brought roaring back to life by the admission that the minutes of the meeting where Jobs' stock options were granted had been falsified - that no board approval of the grant had taken place. Apple must have known that there was more to in because the quietly fired the execs involved, including long time general counsel, Nancy Heinen and Apple CFO Fred Anderson.

This prompted some to call for Steve Jobs resignation, although no one within Apple itself, notably. And that kind of standing by your man is what Peter Burrows over at BusinessWeek would like us to think of as The Steve Jobs Effect.

And he thinks its catching....

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1/24/2007
Apple Stock Option Class Action Has a Lead Plaintiff
The New York City Employees' Retirement System has the honors. And in related news, has Steve Jobs been meeting with the Feds?

-- MDT

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1/17/2007
Apple Facing Federal Probe on Stock Option Backdating
I guess they're not just going to take Apple's word for it, huh?

-- MDT

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1/11/2007
Steve Jobs: A Syllogistic Defense
Backdating: Is almost entirely a non-issue.

Steve Jobs: Is only guilty if backdating is an actual issue.

Ego: Leave Steve alone you business media ninnies!

Larry Ribstein
of Ideobog lays it out it a little bit more eloquently here and here.


-- MDT

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1/09/2007
Backdating Schmakdating! Bask in the Glory of the iPhone
Available in June.

Finally...

-- MDT

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1/08/2007
Why Steve Jobs Should Resign
Well, lets be clear, I don't think he should. But over at Institutional Risk Analytics they're makin' a case. Personally I can't see any way that Job's resigning from Apple hurts the company less than simply weathering the options scandal. To read the case against Steve Jobs, just click here.

-- MDT

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12/27/2006
Apple Stock Options Investigation - It's Not Over Yet
It pains me to even think bad thoughts about the fine folks at Apple. This is a company whose products I've used since their earliest incarnations and have great affection for (my wife would say too great). I also think that Apple, by in large, acts pretty responsibly as a corporate citizen. Not saying they are perfect, but especially with Steve Jobs in the driver's seat the company expresses a vision and ethos of progress and refinement. These are things I can get behind, whether we're talking about technology or civil society. Thus it pains me to observe that Apple may be in deeper waters than it was originally thought when it comes to potential problems arising from stock option backdating.

Some prominent (and probably pre-emptory) resignations have already taken place, including that of former Apple General Counsel, Nancy Heinen and former Apple CFO Fred Anderson. Everybody across the board has lawyered up, including Apple itself. With an SEC investigation of the company still looming, this Mac addict is starting to sweat...just a little. Falsified documents will do that to ya.

Read the absolute latest from the FT.

-- MDT

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12/26/2006
Holiday Catch-Up - What'd I Miss?
Welcome back folks. The Daily Caveat will be in mid-week and then I'll jet off again to visit the Louisiana branch of our NJ/LA martital union. I hope the holiday weekend treated everyone well. Dog boarded, cats in tow, we made our way out towards the Eastern shore and up to NJ for the weekend.

We also hit NYC for a quick brunch with friends and visited the the usual spots, including Rockefeller Center. I have to say the tree was pretty mediocre this year - it looked down right droopy. Swampy, even. Kind of Christmas on the bayou - which of course makes me feel right at home.

Now...to business..what'd we miss (I'll keep updating this over the course of the day, as time allows):
  • Accusations of faked documents arise in Apple options probe. (Say it ain't so, Steve).
  • Nikko dumps execs implicated in falsified earnings report. Several asset managers have also cut ties to the firm.
Just a few to get you started.

-- MDT

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9/15/2006
Apple Avoids SEC Investigation on Options Backdating
At least that's the tale that Steve Jobs is telling. He had this to say in an interview conducted in connection with Apple's recent Showtime event, which debuted several new products and solidified Apple's move into digital downloads of feature films, via the company's juggernaut iTunes store:
"We're mostly focused on our own house right now," Jobs told CNBC in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. "And we're not under investigation by the SEC or anyone else."

"But we did discover -- you know with all the press around this -- we started our own investigation and we did discover some irregularities and we're letting that investigation have its due course," he said. "And it will be completed in the not too terribly distant future."

Jobs added that Apple is "not really talking about it until that investigation is done," just to give the investigators "the benefit of doing a completely independent investigation."
More here.

-- MDT

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8/09/2006
Apple Not the Only Steve Jobs Venture in Stock Options Hot Water
Genius computer animation house, Pixar, second home of Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, is facing scrutiny regarding stock options offered to its top brass back in 2000. Jobs himself is not among those who partook of Pixar's questionable options offerings, but John Lasseter, Pixar's hawaiian-shirt-wearing creative honcho is among those who may have benefited.

This would not be Pixar's first brush with the alledged financial chicanery. The firm was only recently the subject of securities litigation relating to dissapointing DVD sales of for their film, The Incredibles (which does not exactly speak well for the taste of the American people, because the film was brilliant).

-- MDT

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3/28/2006
Apple vs. Apple Over Violation of 1991 Agreement
The roots of this litigation date back to 1991 when upstart Cupertino, California-based Apple Computer made an agreement with the London-based Apple record label founded by former Beatles, McCartney, Starr and Harrison. Due to potential marketplace confusion that might result between the two similarly named entities, Apple Computer signed an agreement that essentially, according to Apple Records, precluded the computer manufacturer for entering the music business. Millions of iPods and a billion music downloads later, Apple Records is somehow under the impression that Apple Computer.

Hence the lawsuit.

More here.

- MDT

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6/14/2005
iPod - A Swiss Army Knife For Corporate Data Theft
Businesses already made tense by government posturing regarding dire consequences for lack of customer data security are facing an increased risk based on the ubiquitousness of mobile media storage devices, of which Apple's iPod is the most prominent. Every pair of white earphones seen connected to the hip, briefcase or shirt pocket of your subway riding bretheren is a potential secuity catastrophe waiting to happen.

Via Vnuet.com:
Pods open backdoor for data theft - UK firms still ignore dangers of portable media drives

Robert Jaques
vnunet.com
13 Jun 2005

The majority of UK firms are leaving their networks open to malware and data theft by turning a blind eye to widespread employee use of removable media devices such as iPods, MP3 players and USB flash drives. Research published today claims that a staggering two-thirds of IT professionals who use USB flash drives at work admitted that they did not protect them with encryption even though they are aware of the associated dangers.

According to the survey of 300 UK IT professionals, most UK organisations have yet to address the problem of removable media. The poll found that such devices are being used in 84 per cent of companies and, on average, a third of employees are using them in the office. Some 90 per cent of those surveyed said they were aware of the potential danger that removable media presents, and a third of organisations admitted that removable media is being used without authorisation.

"With removable media plummeting in price, soaring memory capacity and more people using them at work, companies need to be aware of how easy it is for staff to use them, lose them or take competitive information away on them, all in the palm of their hands," the study, commissioned by mobile security firm Pointsec, warned...

Martin Allen, managing director at Pointsec UK, added "There seems little point in companies spending vast sums of money on information security if they're letting staff use these devices at work which allow unhindered access to vast quantities of sensitive company information."
The full article appears here.

Now The Daily Caveat won't be surrendering its iPod anytime soon (you can have it when you pry it from my cold, dead hands) but considering that even your six dollar-an-hour data entry temp drone can afford enough mobile data storage to download the personal details of every man and woman listed in the company database, business in both the U.S. and the U.K. may want to consider strategies to pre-empt potential thefts and the potential public relations disasters the inevitably follow.

-- MDT

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4/29/2005
It's Tiger-Day for Mac Addicts
The Daily Caveat and the work product of Caveat Research are both proudly made on Macintosh computers. We're big fans of Apple and have had great success using their products for our business. If you're not using a Mac...perhaps it's time to ask exactly why.

Better men than me are prepared to make the case for Mac. Take a look at Jim Calloway's fine article about the rising prominence of Macs in law offices in case you missed it when if first ran over at the Oklahoma Bar Association website. Noted legal blogger, Robert J. Ambrogi also wrote an interesting piece a few years back on the subject, which can be found here.

You might also want to check out the MacLaw discussion group or some examples to be found via Apple's small business network. The most notable resource available via Apple is Randy Singer's page devoted to resources for legal-industry small businesses. Randy is an attorney and a certified Mac-Addict and has published the Macintosh Software Guide for the Law Office. He also maintains Macattorney.com, a site and email newsletter well worth your time.

If you are already using a Macintosh, then you already know that it's time to start salivating for an OS upgrade now that Tiger has hit the street. Navigate your way over to Apple.com and bask in the glory. If you're not familair with all the new features that included in Tiger, you can find a run-down here. If you are ready to buy, Amazon.com is running a special - five licenses for $150.

And, since it can't all be good news...Techworld is reporting that Apple is being sued for the the name of the new OS software package. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes spokes-feline Tony was unavailable for comment at this time.

-- MDT

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