Lawyer Charged in $10 Million Securities Fraud
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Federal prosecutors charged an ex-partner of McGuireWoods with fraud, claiming that he illegally obtained and sold shares of various companies.
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New York-based American International Group Inc. has already paid the SEC $10 million to end the commission's civil fraud investigation into its sale of "income smoothing" insurance.
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(InfoWorld) - The former legal counsel for McAfee is facing federal charges of improperly backdating stock options at the security software company. Kent Roberts, 50, of Dallas, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on seven counts of fraud for improperly backdating options between 2000 and 2002, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Roberts is charged with "devising a scheme to defraud by granting himself and others valuable in-the-money stock options while hiding the true nature and value of the stock option grants," the statement says. Roberts hid the fraud from the company, then known as Network Associates, its board, shareholders, auditors, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Roberts joins a small butÂ growing list of executivesÂ or former executives of companies charged in the U.S with improperly backdating stock options grants to make them more profitable for the recipients, but at the expense of shareholders. More than 100 U.S. companies are under investigation by the SEC, federal prosecutors, or through internal audits. According to the indictment, the Network Associates board granted Roberts the option to buy 20,000 shares of Network Associates' stock at the strike price of $29.62, which was the price at which the stock closed on Feb. 14, 2000. In late 2000, Roberts became concerned that his options were "underwater," that is, the $29.62 exercise price of the grant was more than the market price for stock. Roberts allegedly caused Network Associates' then-controller to change the grant date and exercise price in the computer system that recorded stock option grants. The grant date was changed to April 14, 2000, with a new exercise price of $19.75. Furthermore, Roberts implicated the then-controller in the improper backdating of other stock options for consultants to the company. Roberts initiated an investigation in 2002 and recommended that the controller be removed from his position. Roberts also participated in a conference call with the SEC at the time, in which he implicated the controller. All the while, the indictment says, Roberts never mentioned that the controller backdated his options, too. The government also says that Roberts altered board meeting minutes to change the date on which options were granted to the company's then-CEO and chairman. He allegedly changed the options date from Jan. 15, 2002, when the stock closed at $27.19, to Jan. 16, when it closed at only $25.43. The greater the difference between the lower options price and the higher market price when the executive exercises the option, the greater the profit. Roberts is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday before Federal Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero in San Francisco. Roberts' attorney Neal Stephens could not be reached for comment.
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The former chairman of US software firm Computer Associates is charged with securities fraud in connection with a $2.2bn accounting scandal.
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U.S. securities regulators on  Thursday charged brokerage Raymond James Financial Inc. RJF.N  with fraud over misconduct by a former broker charged with  misappropriating about $8.7 million in investor funds.
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The trader accused of making fraudulent transactions that cost Societe Generale &#8364;4.9 billion ($7.2 billion) hacked computers and used "several techniques of fraud," the French banking giant says.
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Barclays Bank Plc  has agreed to pay about $10.9 million to settle charges of illegal insider trading in bond securities, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday.
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Court papers revealed that Phishers conned grocer Supervalu to deposit more than $10 million into two fraudulent bank accounts before it recognized the ruse.
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Prosecutors dropped a criminal   securities fraud charge against former New York Stock Exchange   specialist Kevin Fee, who had been slated to go on trial   October 3, court documents showed.
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The Securities and Exchange  Commission on Thursday filed fraud charges against hedge fund  manager Robert Berlacher and the Lancaster group of hedge  funds, alleging they engaged in an illegal trading scheme  involving at least 10 unregistered securities offerings.
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The former chief executive of software maker Computer Associates International was charged yesterday with securities fraud in a multibillion-dollar accounting
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Federal prosecutors charged former Computer Associates chairman and chief executive Sanjay Kumar and a former sales executive with 10 counts each of securities fraud and obstruction of justice, as the company reached a multimillion-dollar agreement on
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One of the nationâs best-known plaintiffâs lawyers, Richard Scruggs, is ensnared in legal drama involving federal conspiracy and bribery charges.
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A US lawyer sues hit TV show Law and Order for $15m (Â£10.4m) saying he was portrayed as "crooked".
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Well-known U.S. shareholder lawyer William Lerach has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal conspiracy charge stemming from an alleged kickbacks scheme at his former law firm, Milberg Weiss LLP, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles said on Tuesday.
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A local hedge fund manager has been charged with defrauding scores of Maryland residents of millions of dollars after he solicited their money at free lunch seminars and hid losses with fake statements, the state attorney general's office said yesterday.
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Joseph P. Collins, 57, of the law firm Mayer Brown, faces 11 counts including securities fraud, wire fraud and filing false statements with federal regulators.