Dive Brief:
- The former Apple lawyer whose job was to keep the company’s employees from trading on insider information must hand over to the Securities and Exchange Commission 10% of his personal net worth, or $1.15 million, U.S. District Judge William Martini in Newark, New Jersey, ruled July 2, Reuters reported.
- The fine is about double the $604,000 that Levoff, over a series of six trades between 2011 and 2016, gained in profits and loss avoidance from his access to the company’s draft SEC filings.
- Levoff’s attorneys called the fine excessive, given their client’s cooperation and the four-year probation and 2,000 hours of community service he’s already served, plus his forfeiture of $604,000. But Judge Martini said the fine is appropriate given his “especially egregious” actions as the then-top lawyer overseeing Apple’s insider trading compliance program, the Reuters report said.
Dive Insight:
Levoff joined Apple as an in-house lawyer in 2008 and moved up to the sensitive compliance position in 2013, according to the SEC complaint. Apple let him go in 2018. The SEC charged him a year later. He pleaded guilty in 2022 as part of a plea deal.
Prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence. “If people who are insiders at massive companies like Apple don’t get prison for insider trading, then who does?” federal prosecutor Joshua Haber said at the time, Bloomberg reported. But Judge Martini said it was enough he lost his job and would never practice law again, the report said.
Levoff’s attorney Kevin Marino said in the Reuters report he’s disappointed in the $1.15 million fine but his client won’t challenge it.
“Judge Martini has been fair and even-handed throughout this case and we respect his decision,” Marino said. “Mr. Levoff is pleased to put this matter behind him and move on with his life."
The case is U.S. v. Levoff, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 19-cr-00780.
