On Thursday, the SEC dropped its options backdating case against Kent Roberts, former general counsel of McAfee Inc. The Recorder reports that the action followed an unsuccessful criminal case against Roberts in October. Roberts’ attorney, William Freeman of Cooley Godward, called the dismissal of the case a “complete vindication for Kent,” who did not pay a fine like many other defendants in the SEC’s backdating cases.
The Recorder reports that Freeman said that the SEC dismissed the charges after Cooley lawyers laid out the exonerating evidence. “We’ve been telling them for two years that Kent didn’t do anything wrong, and it took the discovery that we did in the civil case to prove our point,” Freeman said. “What it showed was that the change made to Kent’s options was consistent with company policy.”
