NEWARK, N.J. (KNX) — Apple’s former director of corporate law and corporate secretary pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in a New Jersey federal court Thursday, according to the Department of Justice.
Gene Levoff, 48, was charged in February 2019 with securities fraud for using nonpublic information about Apple’s finances to his advantage while trading company stocks.
Between February 2011 and April 2016, he used his position as the co-chairman on Apple’s disclosure committee, which reviewed the company’s quarterly and yearly earning reports, to trade stock before the market could react.
If the company was about to announce financial success, he’d buy up stock and sell it after the market reacted to the news. If the company was going to announce failure, he would sell off large amounts of stock before the inevitable dip.
Authorities estimated he made about $227,000 on some trades and avoided losses of about $377,000 with others
Levoff ignored blackout periods that prohibited trading while administrators had access to nonpublic information.
One of his responsibilities as Apple’s top lawyer was to enforce the very insider trading policies he broke.
Several times he warned others not to trade during blackout periods he later violated.
“Gene Levoff betrayed the trust of one of the world’s largest tech companies for his own financial gain,” U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said. “Despite being responsible for enforcing Apple’s own ban on insider trading, Levoff used his position of trust to commit insider trading in order to line his own pockets.”
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine.
Sentencing is slated for Nov. 10.
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