Of the eight general counsels pursued by the SEC or prosecutors for alleged improper stock options backdating, four are still fighting charges, three have settled or pleaded guilty and one was acquitted, NLJ reports. The lone acquittal to date has been Kent Roberts, the former general counsel for McAfee Inc., who was acquitted of criminal charges in October. The SEC subsequently dropped its charges against him, as well.
NLJ reports that litigation continues in the cases against former general counsels Lisa Berry of KLA-Tencor Corp., Susan Skaer of Mercury Interactive LLC, David A. Dull of Broadcom Corp. and Nancy Richardson of Microtune Inc.
The three general counsels who settled or pleaded guilty to backdating charges were Myron Olesnyckyj of Monster Worldwide Inc., Kenneth Selterman of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and Nancy Heinen of Apple Inc.
David W. Porteous, an attorney with Levenfeld Pearlstein in Chicago told NLJ that general counsel remain in the cross hairs. “With backdating, we are just coming out the other side of the enforcement,” Porteous said. Backdating may be gone, but that doesn’t mean the SEC will withdraw its attention from general counsel, he added.
