Backdating Investigations

As federal investigators examine the stock option programs of more than 160 companies, innumerable other companies launch internal investigations. As top executives resign, shareholders file dizzying numbers of derivative class action suits. Finally, as the Securities Exchange Commission and Department of Justice bring enforcement actions and criminal charges, the media is vilifying the so-called stock option backdating scandal as the biggest example of corporate abuse since Enron. The option backdating media frenzy focuses upon investigations by federal prosecutors and other regulatory agencies into public companies that have employed stock option compensation plans for corporate executives and employees.

12 minute read April 30, 2007 at 08:38 AM

By

Charles A. Ross