Fred Anderson's statement, that he'd warned Steve Jobs over options backdating and had been misled by the Apple chief executive, could indicate that there's evidence, if government regulators have the will, to pursue a case against the computer company's iconic founder. Or there's a simpler explanation for the betrayal: Anderson, Apple's long-time chief financial officer and Jobs' key confidant, simply resented shouldering the blame for sleazy executive pay decisions that were ultimately made by his boss. Betrayal can work two ways. The best indication that he felt like this, a quote, in today's analysis by John Markoff of the New York Times, from one of Anderson's current colleagues. One can assume he's speaking with the former Apple exec's approval.

"Fred's reputation was impugned by Apple," said Roger McNamee, a managing director at Elevation Partners, the venture capital firm where Mr. Anderson is a colleague. "All he is doing now is responding — with facts. And he is doing so in the most diplomatic way possible." [McNamee was talking to John Markoff of the New York Times.]

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