Time to prosecute Steve Jobs

It's called "plausible deniability."

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales did "nothing wrong'' in firing Federal prosecutors who go after too many Republicans, and Steve Jobs "didn't know the accounting implications of backdating."

Excuse me, but I know a crock or two when I see them. At Least Gonzales didn't do anything illegal. Just unethical.

Why people seem to think Jobs is innocent because he didn't know the implications of options backdating is so far behind my comprehension it rates up there with String Theory.

I learned the mantra in grade school: "ignorantia legis non excusat." OK, I learned it in English. Stated by Wickipedia, "...no one can justify his conduct on the grounds that he was not aware of the law."

Sure, there are exceptions, in the case of certain obscure laws. But for Jobs to deny he knew this was illegal is to exorbitantly underestimate Jobs. Come on, folks, he knows stock options. He's been an entrepreneur and executive and board member for decades.

And now Apple's scapegoats have fired guns at him that are still smoking.  Former CFO Fred Anderson said that he told Jobs that backdating options would require an accounting change.

Not quite as good as the emails that proved Gonzales wasn't as innocent as he claimed, but good enough to take to court.

The fact that Jobs was informed of accounting implications means he knew that Apple would have to restate its earnings. It should have announced that earnings in the quarter in which the options were granted were actually lower than the company had claimed.

Ouch. That would have upset Wall Street and hit the company's stock, so they didn't do it.

Steve Jobs knows that is both illegal and unethical. I know that's illegal and unethical, and I've never been on a company's board. I just don't see the plausible part of this denial.

Jobs is known in the Valley as a ruthless competitor. Allowing his former execs to take the fall is ruthlessly unethical, an attack on people who did not compete with him, but worked with him. This really stinks.

Now the only question is whether securities regulators will pursue Jobs with the same vigor they pursued, say, former CFO Anderson, who has to pay $3.5 million in fines and penalties.

Backdating was a common, illegal activity in Silicon Valley, and it hurt untold shareholders while enriching the people taking the options.

It needs to be prosecuted in order to let executives know they can't get away with these kinds of tactics.

The SEC needs to prosecute Jobs, or it will have as little credibility as Alberto Gonzales. Just do it.