At Last: Four Years After The Fact, Former Network Associates exec charged with fraud. By now a private action would be barred!
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 10:55AM One has to wonder how private investors are expected to file complaints that show sufficient facts for a court to find a "strong inference" of fraud within two years of a stock drop or trade, when it takes the government, who has the power of subpoena, years to file a charge. The following article shows just how slow our government is and how unfair the system is to the investor. P.S. Investors---It's too late to sue for insider selling! It had to be done at least 2 years ago...and then you didn't have the evidence! Tough luck thanks Congress.
Full Article Link: Former Network Associates exec charged with fraud - Nov. 30, 2004.
Ex-Network Associates exec charged Former controller for company now known as McAfee Inc. charged with insider trading. November 30, 2004: 7:35 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A former Network Associates controller was charged with insider trading Tuesday, bringing to three the number of executives who have been charged with fraud at the security software maker now known as McAfee Inc., the U.S. Attorney's office said.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said Evan Collins was charged with one count of securities fraud based on stock sales he made in November 2000 before shareholders had a level playing field on which to sell their stock.
Collins, 42, was a former controller at the Santa Clara, California-based company, known for its widely used McAfee anti-virus software.....Collins is the third former Network Associates executive charged with securities fraud after a two-and-a-half-year investigation by federal authorities.
The charges stem from financial statements Network Associates submitted in 1999 and 2000 that authorities believed were fraudulent.
Collins faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil suit against Collins on Tuesday....
Other executives
The attorney's office said that between September and November of 2000, Collins learned that several Network Associates executives were involved in a scheme to illegally manipulate Network Associates' financial statements.
Collins is accused of learning that his predecessor and others improperly transferred $15 million from a tax reserve account to an accounts receivable reserve account to boost revenue, the attorney's office said.
Upon learning this and other inside information, Collins was accused of exercising his options to buy and sell 30,000 shares of Network Associates' common stock, realizing proceeds of about $250,000....
Prabhat Goyal, the company's former chief financial officer, was indicted June 17, 2004, by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on 20 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy....
Collins' replacement as controller, Terry Davis, pleaded guilty to securities fraud on June 11, 2003....
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