BACKDATED STOCK OPTIONS
 

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP Now Investigating Stock Options Backdating Practices By KLA-Tencor

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP is currently investigating stock options backdating practices at over 100 companies, including KLA-Tencor.

Regarding KLA-Tencor, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, "On May 30, KLA said it received a notice from the SEC of an informal inquiry relating to stock-option grants, after disclosing on May 22 that U.S. prosecutors had requested data on grants. On May 24, the semiconductor-equipment maker said its board of directors had appointed a special committee to run an internal investigation of "past stock option grants, the timing of such grants and related accounting and documentation." In 2001, the semiconductor-equipment maker granted its top executives, including Chairman Ken Levy, two batches of stock options. They arrived on unusually fortunate days for the executives: The first dated at the share price's first-half low; the second at its second-half low. On June 30, KLA said a special board committee has reached a preliminary conclusion that the actual measurement dates for financial accounting purposes of certain grants issued in prior years likely differ from the recorded grant dates.  On Oct. 16, KLA said it expects to record total additional non-cash charges for stock-based compensation expenses of no more than $400 million, following the completion of its internal probe. It said its general counsel resigned and that it terminated its employment agreement with its former CEO.  On Feb. 9, 2007, the company announced that the SEC had informed the company that it was now subject of a formal probe."

If you are a current stockholder in KLA-Tencor and would like to learn about your legal rights in seeking to remedy improper options backdating at the company, please click here or call 800-287-8119 to contact our paralegal, Sophie Horowitz.  Our initial consultation and case assessment will be done at no charge or obligation to you.

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP is a leading force in bringing lawsuits on behalf of shareholders who own stock in corporations implicated in the rampant and ongoing stock options backdating scandal.  Led by attorneys Edward F. Haber and Michelle H. Blauner, our firm has already filed numerous cases, in both state and federal courts, concerning the improper backdating of stock options granted to officers, directors, and executives who appear to have used backdated stock options to create for themselves tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars in profit and unrealized gain at the direct expense of their corporations.

To learn more about our efforts targeting unlawful corporate stock options practices at corporations nationwide, please click here to view our main stock options backdating webpage, which contains detailed explanations of stock options, option backdating, and why option backdating can be illegal.  Also featured are complaints filed by our firm in other stock options backdating cases, as well as a full list of all the corporations we are currently investigating.