Apple lawyer tasked with preventing insider trading indicted for *checks notes* insider trading

A former top Apple lawyer whose responsibilities including preventing insider trading has now been indicted for, uh, that. 

Gene Levoff, Apple’s former corporate secretary and director of corporate law, is accused of using insider knowledge to trade Apple stock between February 2011 and April 2016 — the exact behavior he was entrusted to prevent.

Illegal insider trading gives people with access to nonpublic company information an unfair advantage over everyone else, a bit like using secret cheat codes in a multiplayer game. Only instead of leaderboards and kill streaks, it’s hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, Levoff’s alleged unfair advantage amounted to earnings of approximately $227,000 on some trades, while preventing losses of around $377,000 on others.

“Levoff ignored… the company’s broader Insider Trading Policy — which he was responsible for enforcing — and instead repeatedly executed trades based on material, nonpublic information without [Apple]’s knowledge or authorization,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a press release on Thursday.

“On several occasions, Levoff executed trades within a blackout period after notifying other individuals subject to the restriction that they were prohibited from buying or selling [Apple] stock until the blackout period terminated.”

Bloomberg reported one example where Levoff sold off around $10 million in Apple stock shortly after learning iPhone sales for the quarter would fall short of analyst predictions — avoiding what would have been a loss of nearly $350,000 when the news knocked more than 4 percent off the share price.

Levoff was indicted on Thursday, and now faces six counts of securities fraud and six counts of wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. Securities fraud also carries a maximum fine of $5 million, while each count of wire fraud could either cost Levoff up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss caused.

Apple fired Levoff in September 2018 following an internal investigation. The US Securities and Exchanges Commission also accused Levoff of insider trading in a civil lawsuit filed in February, though he denied the charges. 

Truly, a “you had one job” for the ages.