Former Apple lawyer accused of insider trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that a former lawyer for Apple participated in insider trading.

The SEC announced the charges against Gene Levoff, accusing him of exploiting his position as the company’s head of corporate law to conduct illegal trading and avoid $382,000 in losses.

{mosads}Levoff is accused of making insider trades at least three different times in 2015 and 2016. Levoff had access to not-yet-public earnings results and information on iPhone sales, according to the complaint. 

CNBC reported that Levoff worked at Apple until last September.

Prior to his termination in September, Levoff was responsible for Apple’s compliance with securities laws.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The tech giant got off to a rough start in 2019 when CEO Tim Cook announced the company was projecting first-quarter revenue of $84 billion after initially predicting from $89 billion to $93 billion. The announcement prompted stocks to tumble.

In an interview a few days later, Cook touted the company’s prospects moving forward and downplayed the impact of an ongoing trade dispute between China and the U.S.

Updated at 1:38 p.m.