Key Insights
- U.S. District Court grants SEC summary judgment against Gene Daniel Levoff, former Apple senior attorney, for insider trading violations.
- Levoff ordered to pay $1,147,440 civil penalty, face permanent injunction, and accept officer-and-director bar for trading on confidential earnings information.
NEWARK, N.J. (MarketsXplora) – A U.S. federal court has ruled against Gene Daniel Levoff, a former senior attorney at Apple Inc., in an insider trading case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ordering him to pay a civil penalty of $1,147,440.
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted summary judgment to the SEC, finding that Levoff violated antifraud provisions of federal securities laws. The ruling comes after Levoff pleaded guilty to criminal charges of securities fraud in a parallel case on June 30, 2022.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Levoff, who previously served as Apple’s global head of corporate law and corporate secretary, exploited his position on a senior executive committee that reviewed the company’s draft earnings materials prior to public release.
The SEC alleged that Levoff used this confidential information to trade Apple securities ahead of three quarterly earnings announcements in 2015 and 2016, resulting in approximately $382,000 in combined profits and avoided losses.
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Ironically, Levoff’s responsibilities at Apple included overseeing securities law compliance and insider trading prevention. He regularly reviewed and approved the company’s insider trading policy and notified employees of their obligations.
The court’s decision includes a permanent injunction against Levoff and an officer-and-director bar, in addition to the substantial civil penalty. The disgorgement and prejudgment interest were deemed satisfied by Levoff’s forfeiture payment in the parallel criminal action.
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