Another Apple shareholder files backdating lawsuit

After the SEC more or less cleared Apple of those pesky backdating charges and a California court dismissed a shareholder class-action lawsuit accusing the company of improper accounting procedures, it looked like the good times were over, but fear not: another institutional investor has filed suit against Apple alleging the company cooked the books. The Boston Retirement Board filed suit in the Santa Clara County Superior Court, saying that it has investigated the matter and turned up even more evidence, which it can't reveal until the court decides how to handle confidential information. All it will say is that it has proof that "all of Apple's directors were aware of and participated in the backdating scheme," which isn't really new news -- and we're wondering what new information could have turned up that the SEC didn't find in its lengthy, much-watched investigation. Still, it looks like this is the story that won't go away -- anyone ready for some more hot accounting nights?

[Mr.Tech @ Apr 24th 2008 12:31PM]

Bad Apple! Bad, Bad Apple! "bite" At least it's still sweet. "Ignore the random comment =D"

[thebigDallas @ Apr 24th 2008 5:03PM]

why is the first comment always the worst?

[Shyam D @ Apr 24th 2008 12:35PM]

The US is going from the land of the free to the Land of Litigation: LoL.

[carl @ Apr 24th 2008 3:03PM]

Going? We arrived a long time ago.

[snitch @ Apr 24th 2008 12:50PM]

Is this year old news suppose to stop the stock from going up????? i don't think so,

[Argot @ Apr 24th 2008 12:50PM]

Jobs and Tony Soprano sitting in a tree, K, I, S, S, I, N, G....

[phanbouy @ Apr 24th 2008 1:04PM]

hey i get it, steve jobs is a mob boss! that's clever. you're clever.

[Craig @ Apr 24th 2008 12:51PM]

Does this shareholder realise he is damaging the company which he owns shares in by doing this?

[Daren @ Apr 24th 2008 12:57PM]

its not a single person, but a retirement agency. They believe their members are being ill-served by the current outcome, and therefore are challenging it.

[milton359 @ Apr 24th 2008 1:09PM]

@craig
you also realize that if you sit back and do nothing then management will just suck the company dry like Enron.

I could not believe the SEC exonorated the company when it did

[phanbouy @ Apr 24th 2008 1:10PM]

milton, so steve jobs = ken lay? GTFO

[Craig @ Apr 24th 2008 1:25PM]

I understand that you should stand up when something is wrong - but, they are hurting the 'publc image' of Apple by doing this. Some people may see this and steer clear of Apple or be more weary of it, thus hurting profits and potentially reducing the value of the shares which this group owns.

[Olu O @ Apr 24th 2008 1:27PM]

Well, maybe some people have a conscience and for them, its not about the money!!!

[phanbouy @ Apr 24th 2008 2:09PM]

"its not about the money!!!"

which is why he's trying to win money in a lawsuit. do you fanboys even listen to yourselves?

[Scott @ Apr 24th 2008 1:10PM]

I don't understand why any investor is bothering to continue with this. Not only is this going to depress the stock price by keeping the issue in the news, but any payout is going to be minuscule compared to both the harm it causes the stock and the amount they've made off the stock in the last 2 years.

The stock price has more than doubled in 2 years, how can any investor be complaining about that? And if the result of all this is Jobs being removed or stepping down (not very likely) then the stock price will really tank.

Talk about trying to shoot yourself in the foot.

[bob e @ Apr 24th 2008 1:14PM]

With all his money Jobs should graft all that chin hair on top his head.
He looks like an ape.

[Kizorblade @ Apr 24th 2008 1:44PM]

He's trying to become a wizard like Merlin with the beard that reaches the ground. Let him grow his hair in peace

[rob @ Apr 24th 2008 1:50PM]

I work in the securities litigation industry. Even though the article states "shareholder," it is likely the plaintiffs don't own the stock anymore. So what do they care if their litigation negatively affects Apple. Regardless of whether or not they own the stock, almost all securities litigation involves a set of shareholders suing the company. Imagine if you owned a business with 10 of your friends, 2 of them actually ran day-to-day operations, and you found out they were doing some accounting magic to skim some profits into their own pockets without you knowing. Sure the company has done well, but if you let that go, what's going to stop them from totally screwing you 3 years down the road?

i think companies did this b/c it's a really easy scheme to implement. they just generate some approval docs with "back" dates. problem is, if soft copies are found, then the "real" document creation dates could still be identified. so in a weird way, whether or not Apple gets caught depends on how easily one could manipulate the document dating function (to cover their tracks) in the their own software.

[JE @ Apr 24th 2008 9:04PM]

I wanna shave Jobs' beard and sell it on eBay

[Skyblade @ Apr 24th 2008 2:30PM]

Bout time, wondered what was happening with all the money those guys were making by marking up thier hardware at 500%. Hope they all do some time, might give the clone companies a chance to give us a better deal on our own terms, not Job's terms. I mean if MS tried this, you know that there would be corp suits hanging from trees. Call it pay back for the iphone farce, AT&T my butt! Might as well made an iphone visa card with 33% rates for expletive sakes!

[mingistech @ Apr 24th 2008 2:46PM]

So be your "logic" the Macs should really sell for 1/5 of the price apple is charging.....

The 24in Core2Duo iMac would then be a $360.00 computer.

You Sir are an id10t. :)

[L.Rawlins @ Apr 24th 2008 3:08PM]

Can I just take a moment from this discussion to thank Engadget for promoting a news story that isn't entirely pro-Apple.

Prefering one product over another I haven't a problem with, but I was noticing a lot more 'opinion pieces' in favour of products replacing content that could be described as 'news'.

That's not to say I'm giddy about seeing the trendiest brand going tarnished as a 'lowly' Windows user, haha, I just appreciate being given the facts on a story and then being able to decide for myself how I should feel about the content.

This blog has a lot of clout due to its popularity and I like to see that used to inform rather than to influence, which I personally feel it has on occasion wandered into.

Thanks again.

[phanbouy @ Apr 24th 2008 3:36PM]

Who gives a shit if they like the occasional Apple product? God, you whiners never give it a rest do ya?

[Miguel @ Apr 24th 2008 3:55PM]

When the SEC let Apple of the hook, it blew me away--because it was publicly known that there was indeed a backdating problem! I mean, that was a serious "WTF" moment: yes, they did it; no, we're not going to do anything about it.

phanbouy:

Your name says it all. It's not about being an Apple fan or not; it's that they did something illegal, and, barring that, morally questionable at best, betrayed the trust of their shareholders to line their own pockets. That, sir, needs to be called out. But this lawsuit will be thrown out on the precedence of the SEC decision and the prior suit. Doesn't that bug you just a little bit, that people get away unpunished for crap like that?

[thatkidmattt @ Apr 25th 2008 10:54AM]

As someone that owns stock in Apple, I have to say that it doesn't bother me in the least.


If I decided to sell right now I'd come out with a little more then double of what I initially invested, and that is nothing to complain about. Is it bad practice? Yeah, maybe, but in the end I still came out with a metric fuck-ton of money compared to where I started.


Money makes the world go round, tbh.

[John @ Apr 24th 2008 4:34PM]

My computer is better than yours because mine doesnt require me to worship it.

[thatkidmattt @ Apr 25th 2008 1:29PM]

I like my computer more than I like your computer, yet I do not worship mine.


In summary: don't be a twat-waffle