2 Are Charged in Criminal Case on Stock Options

[swag]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/business/21options.html?hp&ex=1153454400&en=45454a364e2a0cca&ei=5094&partner=homepage

By DAMON DARLIN and ERIC DASH
SAN FRANCISCO, July 20 — Federal prosecutors on Thursday filed the first criminal charges against executives in a mushrooming investigation into the possible manipulation of stock options.

Gregory L. Reyes, the chief executive of Brocade Communications until January 2005, and Stephanie Jensen, the vice president for human resources until 2004, were each charged in a criminal complaint with one count of securities fraud. Prosecutors said the two doctored the minutes of board meetings, job-offer letters and other documents to make it appear that employees were granted stock options at an earlier date, when the share price of Brocade was lower.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil complaint, which named Brocade’s former chief financial officer, Antonio Canova, as well as the other two executives. (Mr. Canova, who resigned in December 2005, was not named in the criminal case.)

The criminal complaint is the most significant step yet by investigators in what is shaping up to be a large-scale scandal in the corporate world. Corporations — from small technology companies like Altera and Mercury Interactive to industry giants like UnitedHealth — have been ensnared in investigations into whether their executives or boards improperly granted stock options at attractive prices.


. . .

[daleo]

1. Here I was hoping it would be the 911 stock manipulations

I guess that one went down the memory hole.

[NYC]

2. I'm still waiting for that.

[tanyev]

3. Buy yourself a comfortable chair.

It's going to be a while. :grr:

[laylah]

4. I agree!

Darned good thing I don't look too bad in blue!

[NYC]

8. I know I may not live long enough.

But, I wait.

[denverbill]

6. You can stop waiting. The investigation is over.

They concluded it a couple years ago. The results weren't exactly splattered all over the front pages.

They said the concluded that the people who bought the puts had no involvement or knowledge of 9-11, but they refused to give out the names of the people who bought them.

I think it's safe to conclude, based on the results, that the purchasers were Saudi royals, or less likely the CIA. Any American who purchased them would very likely have had no problem announcing it publicly, IMO.

[NYC]

7. I know it's over, but that doesn't mean it won't

be investigated properly in the future, and the information disclosed.

So, I'm still hoping. (Not that I'll live long enough.)

[MasonJar]

5. Being rich and irresponsible and fraudulent must become a stain.

on the wealthy. The only way for sanity to return is for it to become a negative to be rich and greedy. We did it once with the robber barons. We need a new nomiker for these folks and it needs to spread fast and far. Robber Barons Alive and Well or Bush's Haves and Have Mores or The You Earn It & We Take Crew. These are not it. Anyone got a spark of genius on ther tip of his/her tongue?