Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) 
former chief financial officer has settled charges stemming from the backdating of stock options of the computer and device maker.
Fred Anderson has agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pay a US$150,000 fine and repay about $3.5 million in gains made as a result of options dating irregularities. The SEC charged that Anderson "failed to take steps to ensure that Apple's financial statements were correct," according to an SEC statement.
Under the deal, Anderson admits no wrongdoing. He will not be barred from serving as an executive officer or board of directors member at public companies.
The Investigations
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Anderson left Apple in 2004 after serving as CFO for nearly eight years.
Apple is one of more than 100 companies to have disclosed internal or external probes into its options dating practices. Many companies have seen CEOs and other executives depart amid the probes.
In Apple's case, reports have suggested that federal prosecutors were also investigating, raising the possibility of criminal charges. Apple shares were up a fraction of a percentage point to $93.66 in late morning trading Tuesday.
Focus on Attorney
The SEC will now turn its attention to the company's former top lawyer. General Counsel Nancy Heinen is expected to be the focus of a civil suit in connection with the backdating of options, including a 7.5 million-share grant to CEO Steve Jobs that came in the fall of 2001.
That grant is one of a small number that a panel established by Apple's board of directors -- headed up by former Vice President Al Gore -- found contained irregularities.
However, the same investigation cleared Jobs of wrongdoing, saying he was not aware of the granting issues -- one block of stock was said to be authorized at a board of directors meeting that actually took place a full month later than documentation suggested -- and noted that he did not benefit financially because he never exercised his options to buy the stock.
Heinen left Apple about a year ago, a few months before the iPod maker joined the ranks of publicly traded companies ensnared in options backdating probes.
The SEC charges that Heinen also boosted the value of her own stock options grants through backdating, a widespread and not necessarily illegal practice in which options grants dates are matched with a low point in the company's stock price, widening the gap between the option price and market price of the shares.
Good News?
While an embarrassment for Apple, the fact that former executives are those taking the brunt of the blame for the backdating episodes may help the company in the long run, analysts said.
"Having people who have already left the company be the ones in the spotlight enables a company to say it has a clean house now," Enderle Group Principal Analyst Rob Enderle told MacNewsWorld.
That's especially important in the case of Apple because Jobs is the public face of the company, its cofounder and the man who rescued it from near-oblivion by embracing digital music and turning a niche computer maker into a consumer gadgets powerhouse. "Apple recognized the importance of protecting Jobs to its long term success," Enderle added.
In fact, the settlement with Anderson and the pending charges against Heinen were "a major positive step" toward Apple being able to say the options matters are in its past, Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey said in a research note.
The largest risk, Bailey wrote, was for a current executive -- especially charismatic leader Jobs -- being charged or the being the target of a civil suit. "These actions suggest those risks may not materialize," he added.
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