A Reyes of Sunshine: Brocade CEO’s Backdating Conviction Overturned
To quote the legendary chanteuse, Alanis Morrisette: “Isn’t it ironic?” We’d gone many many months without giving a whit of thought to stock-options backdating, and lo and behold, today we get a veritable flood of news.
The big news first. Greg Reyes (pictured), the former CEO of Brocade who was convicted in 2007 on charges related to stock-options backdating got a huge dose of good news today: His conviction was tossed aside by the Ninth Circuit, which ordered a new trial. Click here for the opinion; here and here for early reports from Bloomberg and the San Jose Mercury-News, respectively.
“Isn’t it ironic”?… Isn’t it a waste of time? Why now? and Why Greg Reyes? Backdating isn’t even an issue. It is a practice amongst plenty of businesses and how they can attract and maintain employees. No one is getting hurt and no promises of benefitting with the options are made. This issue has been blown out of proportion by the government and is one big waste of time.