Ex-Apple lawyer sentenced to probation for insider trading


FILE PHOTO: The Apple logo is seen hanging at the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

(Reuters) - Apple's former top corporate lawyer will receive no prison time after pleading guilty last year to U.S. insider trading charges, a judge said on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge William Martini in Newark, New Jersey, sentenced Gene Levoff to four years of probation and 2,000 hours of community service. Levoff was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine and forfeit $604,000.

Levoff had admitted to six securities fraud counts that each carried a maximum 20-year prison term and $5 million fine.

A lawyer for Levoff, Kevin Marino, said in an email that they were "extremely pleased" for what he called a "fair and appropriate sentence of probation."

A spokesperson for the New Jersey U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.

Prosecutors said Levoff exploited his roles as Apple's corporate secretary, head of corporate law and co-chair of a committee that reviewed drafts of the company's results to generate $604,000 of illegal gains on more than $14 million of trades from 2011 to 2016.

Levoff ignored quarterly "blackout periods" that barred trading before Apple's results were released and violated the company's broader insider trading policy that he himself was responsible for enforcing, prosecutors said.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, fired Levoff in September 2018, five months before he was criminally charged.

The case is U.S. v. Levoff, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 19-cr-00780.

(Reporting by David Thomas; Editing by David Bario and Lisa Shumaker)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

   

Next In Tech News

Corning faces EU probe into smartphone ‘Gorilla Glass’
UBS pilots blockchain-based payment system
Tech giants brace�for AI revamp, antitrust pullback in Trump 2.0
How a viral TikTok video compelled city to replace broken street lamps
Poco launches its C75 smartphone (priced from RM499) and Poco Pad (from RM1,399) in Malaysia
Chinese social media buzzes with admiration for Trump’s comeback
In this US school district, some parents are pushing back against a cellphone ban
After Trump took the lead, election deniers went suddenly silent
Australia moves to ban children under 16 from social media
South Korea fights deepfake porn with tougher punishment and regulation

Others Also Read