Oh Dear. It looks as if the chickens are coming home to roost in the stock options scandal with a San Francisco court finding guilty the first guy to be put on trial for back-dating stock options, Gregory Reyes, former CEO of Brocade Communications Systems.
Reyes was found guilty on ten counts of conspiracy and fraud. A good many Silicon Valley spines will be feeling a good many shivers at the news. So many executives from Steve Jobs downwards were implicated in the allegations.
Some 140 companies were investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. So far five people have been charged.
The horrible cloud hanging over these guys is that the charges carry sentences of up to 20 years.
With the Reyes conviction under their belts, the San Francisco prosecutors will have their tails up. They will be looking for more victims, and the more high-profile their victims are, the better it will be for the prosecutors' future careers as attorneys-general, judges, governors, senators and congressmen.
So, could Jobs run Apple from inside a Federal Penitentiary?
If anyone could, he could.
One thing's for sure though, he's unlikely to make the grade as a penitent.
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