McAfee seeks end to stock-option debacle

By Alan Harten

Software virus killing giant McAfee has been plagued by legal headaches for well over a year relating to so called ‘improper backdating of options’.

Although not illegal in its self the practice landed the company in hot water when it failed to properly disclose details in regulatory fillings.

There then followed a flurry of investigative action from the SEC, although not alone in these investigations, with several other household names such as Dell and Apple coming under the spotlight.

McAfee has also been beleaguered by a class action lawsuit by its own stockholders and the recent indictment of its legal council Kent Roberts on various fraud charges has further devalued its reputation.

On Friday in an attempt to cool the legal inferno McAfee restated reports all the way back to 1995 as well as 10-Q reports for the three quarters of the current year in an attempt to quell the wroth of the SEC and its shareholders.

The company also claims to have reached an agreement to settle to class- action lawsuit.

All this pre-emptive action is costing the company an estimated $137 million in restatement fee’s and nearly $14 million to settle the lawsuit.

The company is clearly hoping its virus killing skills can be adapted to solve its viral legal problems.