Category Archives: Options backdating

Good News for Former Brocade CEO

Fortune’s Roger Parloff reported Friday at his Legal Pad blog on a significant recent development in the options backdating case of former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes. Although he was convicted on 10 bacdating related charges, Reyes will likely receive a minimal prison term – if he in fact is sentenced to any prison time at…

Reyes Convicted in Backdating Case. Who’s Next?

By now you have likely heard that former Brocade CEO Greg Reyes was convicted today on all counts in the Government’s misguided options backdating related prosecution. Larry Ribstein of Ideoblog has this excellent post in which he critically assesses the weak premise that undegirds the Government’s pursuit of these cases. Ribstein raises the possibility that…

Bad Day for Prosecutors in Brocade Backdating Case

Friday was a bad day for the federal prosecutors handling the options backdating related securities fraud case against former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes, and tomorrow does not promise to be any better. The federal judge presiding over the case has ordered the prosecutors to file a response to the defense team’s motion for acquittal by…

Wilson Sonsini Can’t Seem to Get Clear of the Options Mess

Law.com published a story today about the continuing options backdating morass in which iconic Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini continues to find itself. This whole mess seems like a bad cold that those caught in it just can’t seem to shake.

Brocade Backdating Prosecution Likely to Proceed

Yet more backdating news. Attorneys for two former Brocade executives indicted on backdating related fraud charges argued in federal district court that many of the charges against them should be dismissed, The Recorder reports. The Defendants’ motion was primarily predicated on a recent decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in an Enron related…

Delaware Chancery Court Allows Backdating Case to Proceed

Chancellor William Chandler, in a very pointed opinion, denied Maxim Integrated Products’ motion to dismiss most of the backdating related claims brought against it by shareholder William Ryan (you can access a copy of Chancellor Chandler’s opinion here.) Noting that a majority of the board of directors approved each of the backdated options grants in…

Apple, Backdating and Hypocrisy

Professor Larry Ribstein has a very insightful post on the Apple options issue on his blog Ideoblog. Professor Ribstein raises the very interesting question of whether the Apple story would be bigger news, and whether business journalists and corporate “watchdogs” wouldn’t be more exercised over the story if we were talking about Jeff Skilling and…

Is Apple Sticking Its Head in the Sand?

After reading today’s New York Times article on Apple’s latest pronouncement related to its internal proble of its options dating issues, one would conclude either that the company is trying to put the best face on a very bad situation or is simply sticking its head in the sand. Simply stating that the CEO knew…

Something Rotten at Apple?

The Financial Times today published a report that in 2001 Apple CEO Steve Jobs received $7.5 million in stock options without the required board of directors authorization, and that corporate records were later falsified to show that the full board had in fact approved the options grant, as Apple’s internal procedures require. A published this…