McAfee lawyer cleared of stock option charges
p2pnet news view | Crime:- An ex-McAfee lawyer has been cleared of illegally tampering with stock option grants to boost his pay package, says the Associated Press.
Kent Roberts, security company McAfee’s general counsel until he was fired in 2006, “was charged with two counts of fraud and one count of falsifying accounting books,” says that the story, going on, ‘”A jury on Friday found him not guilty on the fraud charges and couldn’t come to a decision on the third charge.
“A federal grand jury today indicted the former general counsel of McAfee, Inc. (formerly Network Associates) in connection with the fraudulent dating of stock option grants in 2000 and 2002, according to a Department of Justice statement, which continues:
“Kent Roberts, 50, of Dallas, Texas, is charged in a seven count indictment 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 from Network Associates, its Board, its shareholders, its auditors, the public, and the SEC. These charges are the result of an investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.”
Federal prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Roberts on the false accounting charge, says AP.
But, “I would strongly recommend against pursuing this any further,” it has US district judge Marilyn Hall Patel saying, “after dismissing the jury, which deliberated for nearly three days after a two-week trial”.
Associated Press – Ex-McAfee executive clear of illegal option dating, October 3, 2008
Department of Justice statement - Former McAfee general council indicted for stock options backdating, February 27, 2007
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