Acacia Research Corp. has fired general counsel Meredith Simmons after she agreed to pay $25,000 to settle allegations that she backdated and withheld records from the Securities and Exchange Commission when she was GC of a New York-based hedge fund. 

The Irvine, California-based patent licensing company announced the termination Tuesday in an SEC filing that an Acacia spokesman foreshadowed earlier this month when responding to an inquiry about Simmons’ employment status.