Ex-Monster CEO to avoid prison time in options case
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The former chief of online job search site Monster Worldwide Inc , suffering from a terminal illness, will avoid prison as part of an agreement on Wednesday with U.S. prosecutors probing stock options backdating.
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Monster Worldwide Inc. has fired its general counsel for cause related to its internal stock option investigation, the parent company of the leading jobs Web site said on Wednesday.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to give a deposition in the stock option backdating lawsuit against former Apple General Counsel, Nancy Heinen. Citing two sources familiar with the case,Â Bloomberg reportsÂ that the subpoena is not part of an SEC investigation. Jobs' testimony is required as part of aÂ lawsuit brought against Heinen by the SECÂ in April 2007. Heinen is the only former Apple executive charged in the backdating scandal.Â Apple's internal investigation cleared all current executivesÂ of any wrongdoing and the SEC reached a deal with former CFO Fred Anderson in the case. Apple representatives were not immediately available to comment. The SEC says that Heinen granted 4.8 million options to six Apple executives, including herself, Anderson and CEO Steve Jobs, in February 2001. To avoid reporting an US$18.9 million compensation charge, Heinen backdated the options to January 17 when the company share price was much lower, the SEC said. She then told her staff to prepare false documents showing the board of directors had acted on that day. Later, in December 2001, the company granted 7.5 million options to Jobs. Again, Heinen avoided a $20.3 million charge by drafting minutes for a fake board meeting she said happened on Oct. 19, the SEC said. That meeting had never occurred. Heinen has maintained her innocence in the case and a statement by her lawyers said, "Nancy Heinen's integrity is unimpeachable."Apple's backdating problems started in June 2006, when the company announced thatÂ an internal probeÂ had found some irregularities in some option grants issued between 1997 and 2001. Four months later, Apple said a special committee hadÂ found irregularities in 15 of the grantsÂ made between 1999 and 2002. The internal investigation also found that Jobs was aware that favorable grant dates had been selected but didn't receive or benefit from those grants and was "unaware" of the accounting implications. In late December,Â Apple disclosed more backdating-related news,Â again clearing current executives and taking an $84 million charge on its restated earnings. Macworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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A former senior vice president of the company that runs the Monster Worldwide Inc. job search Web site told a federal judge on Thursday that he wants to plead guilty.
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Faces fraud charges related to alleged backdating of stock options at the security specialist while it was known as Network Associates.
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A U.S. appeals court will allow ex-Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling to stay out of prison while it considers granting him bail, according to a report published on the Wall Street Journal's Web site on Monday.
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A U.S. prosecutor on Tuesday said the government likely was at least six months away from deciding whether to bring any criminal charges related to stock options practices at UnitedHealth Group Inc. .
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Fugitive tycoon Herbert Axelrod, a former Deal resident who left the United States before his arraignment on tax fraud charges last spring, is expected in federal court in Trenton next week.
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Brocade Communications Systems Inc's  former chief executive Gregory Reyes was fined $15 million on Wednesday for backdating stock option grants.
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A former globe-trotting investment manager remains jailed on one of the longest-running charges of contempt.
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A U.S. judge on Monday gave a 29-month prison sentence to David Radler, one-time president of media giant Hollinger International Inc, whose trial testimony helped convict former press baron Conrad Black.
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A former chief financial officer of information security company SafeNet Inc was sentenced on Monday to six months in prison for manipulating employee stock option grants.
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(InfoWorld) - A civil lawsuit accusing Henry Nicholas III, the former president and CEO of Broadcom Corp., of mistreating employees, using illegal drugs and paying for prostitutes, has reportedly caught the attention of U.S. law enforcement officials investigating stock options backdating at the company. Nicholas, who resigned from Broadcom in January 2003, is the target of a civil lawsuit brought by cousins Kenji and Scott Kato, both former employees of Nicholas. The lawsuit, filed in November in Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, alleges that Nicholas and his lawyers reneged on a settlement for wrongful termination and other claims. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, which is investigating stock options backdating at Broadcom, has begun looking into the Katos' claims. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Kenji Kato in April, and this week, it began interviewing other Nicholas employees, the news report said. Kenji Kato's lawyer, Joseph Kar, declined to comment on the U.S. Attorney's interest in the case. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the investigation. Broadcom, a chip maker for communications devices, announced in January it would take a $2.24 billion charge for stock options backdating. Broadcom said it found options for 232.9 million shares of company stock that had been backdated, with 9.7 million of those shares going to executive officers. Kenji Kato, who describes himself in court documents as a former personal assistant of Nicholas', said Nicholas and his lawyers offered him a settlement of more than US$2.9 million in November, then withdrew it. Kato had accused Nicholas of wrongful termination, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress, among other things. Kenji Kato worked for Nicholas from October 1999 to April 2006, and during much of that time, Nicholas threw wild parties and regularly used illegal drugs such as cocaine, according to a court filing from May. While at Broadcom, Nicholas hired prostitutes for clients and for himself, and he spiked customer drinks with powdered ecstasy pills to lower their "inhibitions and guard," Kato said in the filing. Nicholas' lawyer, Steven Silverstein, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the lawsuit. But in court documents, Nicholas' lawyers deny the allegations and accuse Kato of attempting to extort money from Nicholas. Kato signed a confidentiality agreement when working for Nicholas, according to documents filed by Level 7 LLC and The Management Company LLC, two companies owned by Nicholas. Kato has threatened to make public "certain sensitive private alleged facts ... which he had expressly promised to keep private," the Level 7 court documents say. "Kato's wrongful conduct by issuing these threats ... will cause great and irreparable injury to plaintiffs." Nicholas regularly yelled at employees, and he demanded that Kenji Kato carry a bag with illegal drugs for him, according to Kenji Kato's filing. Nicholas also demanded that Kato use drugs along with him, Kato said. "I was regularly exposed to ... a high degree of debauchery while working for Nick," he said in his filing. "The first time I used cocaine was when Nick shoved a tiny spoon up my nose because I was falling asleep, while he was talking to me. Over time, I got sucked into his extreme lifestyle." By the end of Kato's employment, Nicholas was using "large quantities" of illegal drugs, including cocaine and heroin, and had withdrawn from his friends and family, according to Kato's May filing. Nicholas had stopped paying Kato, although he still demanded work from him, and when Kato walked out, Nicholas owed him $150,000 in back pay, the court documents say. Nicholas had promised Kato employee benefits and Broadcom stock options, but he never delivered, according to Kato's filing.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- McAfee's former top lawyer was charged Tuesday with stock options tampering that muddied the finances of the computer security software maker.
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Thomas Coughlin, the former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive convicted of stealing from the company, may have to go to prison after an appeals court said his house-arrest sentence was too lenient.
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explanation of market-timing, further attorney comment. Picks up last graf. Also moving on general news wires. DENVER  _ The former chief executive of Invesco Funds Group has agreed to pay $500,000 to
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Monster Worldwide Inc. on Wednesday said its board fired the company's general counsel for cause related to its internal stock option investigation.