Mercury News has run a story based on investigations they have made into the Apple Stock Options probe. Their investigation shows that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is unlikely to face any criminal charges related to the stock option backdating investigation.

Despite Apple’s disclosure that Jobs approved widespread backdating at Apple, there is no evidence he directed the backdating of his own grant or covered it up afterward, based on a review of regulatory filings and interviews with lawyers intimately familiar with the grant who asked not to be identified. the news outlet wrote.

The article also looks into great detail exactly what seems to have occurred within Apple.

It all begins with a meeting held on the 29th August, 2001 where the board has discussed granting Steve Jobs 7.5 million shares, the discussions never completed within the meeting and negotiations continued outside of the meetings confines. Thus delaying the finalisation of the stock options. The options were finalised in December but they were backdated to October 2001, minutes of meetings were also falsified.

The article also notes that the backdating of options is not necessarily illegal if approved by the board and the investigations are most likely looking to why minutes of meetings were falsified.