Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (91165)	10/2/2007 9:50:32 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

yes I don't disagree with you about backdating. There are a few levels of it and I am only discussing the employee options plans. Those have been done the same way for years, so my "beef with it" as you say, is just that I dont' think there can be criminal intent with some widespread, 40 yr old business practice. this is just for the employees not executives. Executives are another matter that is sort of skimming. But the Brocade case was an employee plan case. No options for the execs. The employee plans have been implemented so that every quarter the low stock price of the quarter is selected and that is the strike price every employee gets when he starts his job in that quarter. Always the low of the quarter. Choosing a price at the low of the quarter was never thought of as "backdating". If you had said backdating to an exec prior to this scandal they thought it meant choosing a date BELOW the low of the quarter. The low of the quarter was just viewed as a corporate perogative. You can't grant options with 365 strike prices for every start date of the year for every employee. The problem the feds have is that the date on the paperwork filed with the SEC is that "backdated" date, thats the fraud. But it has always been done that way. Back in the 70s the lawyers here said any "committee of one" can choose any date within the quarter (since he is a committee of one) and date it however. Eveyone who has ever participated in a stock option employee plan at any company has participated in this way. they are all done like this. Now, today none of this matters because options are all expensed. Just the fact that you seem to be assuming these are executive plans just shows how fraudulently the USAO is acting. They haven't charged anybody with executive backdating. Its all employee small potato stuff. The prosecution came up with 12 million damages for the brocade case, 2 million for the day the SEC inquiry was announced, 7 million for the charge brocade had to pay to clear with the SEC, and 3 million in taxes employees should have paid on their options. So in other words the big scandal is 9 million that was created by the SEC and 3 million in taxes people like me should have paid. Yeah whatever.