John Sten
The SEC and Frank McPike, former interim CEO of a company called Competitive Technologies, reached a creative and novel agreement in the SEC’s case against McPike for allegedly participating in a scheme to manipulate the stock price of CT. As discussed in an article by CFO.com, the parties settled nearly all charges against McPike, but agreed to take the issue of the SEC’s demand for an officer and director bar to trial. John Sten, attorney for McPike, told CFO.com that “This case provides a new avenue for reaching settlements with the SEC.” In fact, McPike prevailed at trial in April 2008, when the court reportedly decided not to impose a bar.
According to CFO.com, another case following this approach (against Richard Selden, the former CEO of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Transkaryotic Therapies) will go to trial on the O&D issue only in the coming months, and another case will be announced soon.
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[...] in July 2008, we discussed an emerging tactic in the defense of SEC enforcement actions: settling the case against you in all [...]