An ex-Apple lawyer responsible for overseeing the company’s insider trading policies has been ordered to pay a fine of $1.15 million to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for insider trading violations (via Reuters).
Gene Levoff served as Apple’s director of corporate law between 2011 and 2018, where it was his responsibility to ensure insider trading wasn’t abused inside the Cupertino company. The SEC fine was handed down by US District Judge William Martini on Tuesday, who lamented Levoff’s actions as “especially egregious” considering the responsibilities of his role at Apple.
Levoff was fired from Apple in September 2018 once the SEC first became aware of his insider trading violations. Prosecutors charged Levoff five months later, accusing him of making or avoiding losses of $384,400 on trades he made on Apple stock based on advance information on how the company’s quarterly earnings would perform before results were publicly announced. Levoff would buy more Apple stock if the company’s generated revenue was poised to beat analysts’ expectations and sell some of his shares if earnings were below market consensus.
Levoff pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him in June 2022, where he was sentenced to four years in probation and forfeiture of $604,000. With the $1.15 million fine, Levoff is set to avoid jail time as Judge Martini deemed the penalty and Levoff’s loss of his license to practice law a just punishment.
