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Ex-Apple executive faces insider trading suit

SEC alleges Levoff used his position to sell stock before earnings reported

By Hamza Shaban, The Washington Post
Published: February 13, 2019, 5:16pm

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against a former Apple executive Wednesday, alleging that he exploited his position as a high-ranking attorney to illegally trade Apple stock before the company disclosed its quarterly earnings report to investors.

Gene Levoff, Apple’s former senior director of corporate law and corporate secretary, “violated the duty of trust and confidence he owed Apple and its shareholders,” states the SEC’s complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the district of New Jersey.

The SEC alleges that Levoff, on at least three occasions in 2015 and 2016 traded Apple stock relying on insider information. In one instance, in the summer of 2015, Levoff learned that Apple would miss its quarterly estimates for iPhone sales, and before those results were publicly disclosed, he sold about $10 million worth of Apple stock from his personal brokerage account, the SEC alleges, which amounted to virtually all of his Apple holdings.

“Through his illegal insider trading in 2015-2016, Levoff profited and avoid losses of approximately $382,000,” the lawsuit states.

The SEC asked the court to enter a judgment against Levoff, finding that he violated federal securities laws; ordering that he pay back the profits he made and the losses he avoided from his alleged insider trading; that he pay a civil penalty of three times that amount; and banning him from serving as an officer or director of a public company.

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