OptionsBackdating
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Jobs, other Apple execs settle shareholder backdating lawsuits for $14M
It looks like the Apple options backdating mess is finally drawing to a complete close, as the last of the shareholder derivative suits against Steve Jobs and other Apple execs will reportedly settle for $14M pending the court's final approval on October 31. Apple has also agreed to reform parts of its options plan, but in the end all of this has basically come out to nothing -- particularly since shareholders in a derivative suit sue on behalf of the company, meaning the $14M is being paid by Steve and the other execs' insurance companies back to Apple, which doesn't really need it. Oh well, at least we briefly got FSJ out of it, right?[Via AppleInsider]
Broadcom cofounder Henry Samueli reaches plea agreement, admits he lied to SEC
Broadcom's former management team is still in a heap of trouble over falsified financial statements, but it looks like co-founder Henry Samueli has managed to reach a plea deal with the Feds that'll keep him out of jail -- he's admitted that he misstated Broadcom's finances and knowingly backdated stock options issued to executives, and he'll be fined some $12M plus an additional $250K, as well as serve five years' probation. The court hasn't yet approved the deal, but compared to the "warehouse of meth" antics of Henry T. Nicholas III, Broadcom's other co-founder, a little accounting chicanery seems positively straightlaced, you know?
Apple's ex-lawyer retains her own lawyer
Nancy Heinen, Apple's former general counsel who was just replaced by Donald Rosenberg, has retained a Berkley white collar crime lawyer just in case she needs to defend herself against charges resulting from the whole messy options backdating problem. Heinen abruptly exited her post at Apple last spring with no explanation given and neither Apple nor Heinen has bothered to elaborate on what exactly went down or even whether she was fired or resigned on her own.Heinen has hired Cristina Arguedas of Arguedas, Cassman & Headley, who said in an interview last week that federal authorities have not contacted Heinen about her possible role in Apple's option grants and Miles Ehrlich, a lawyer at Ramsey & Ehrlich. "Every executive, CEO, CFO, general counsel, any high-up person in Silicon Valley in their right mind is getting themselves legal representation because of this legal environment right now," Arguedas said. "I have a number of clients who are executives who think it would be a good idea to be represented. It doesn't mean anything that they have chosen me to do that." Fellow TUEWstress Erica Sadun discovered that Cristina Arguedas, aside from being Apple's ex-lawyer's lawyer is go-to-lawyer for lawyers in general, according to the Wall Street Journal law blog. In addition to defending Nancy Heinen, she has also defended legal eagle Ann Baskins, Hewlett Packard general counsel, among others. Is there a special Counsel the Counselors class in law school we wonder?More than 90 companies are the subject of stock option inquiries right now. The FBI said Wednesday that it's investigating 45 backdating cases, while prosecutors in the past three weeks have charged five former executives of two companies, including two ex-CEOs. Sounds to me like Heinan is very wise to retain counsel at this stage of the game.
