Apple’s Jobs sued again over backdated options

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs and other managers were accused in an investor suit against the company of backdating stock option awards for personal profit.

The complaint was filed June 27 in federal court in San Jose by shareholder Martin Vogel, who had a similar case dismissed last year by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel.

Vogel and co-plaintiff Kenneth Mahoney said in the new complaint, also assigned to Fogel, that Apple executives hid the cost of the backdated options from shareholders, leading the company to file false financial statements. Vogel seeks class-action status to represent other investors.

The executives “granted themselves in-the-money options while falsifying company records and publicly filed documents to create the appearance that the options had been granted at the market price on an earlier date,” according to the complaint.

The claims mirror allegations made by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a lawsuit against former Apple General Counsel Nancy Heinen, who is also named as a defendant in the shareholder suit. The SEC case is scheduled for trial next year.

Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined to comment on the investor suit. Patrice Bishop, a lawyer representing shareholders, didn’t return a call seeking comment.